]]>http://blogs.theprovince.com/2014/10/02/angry-birds-maker-terminates-130-employees/feed/0rolfsenNHL 15 Reviewhttp://blogs.theprovince.com/2014/09/09/nhl-15-review/
http://blogs.theprovince.com/2014/09/09/nhl-15-review/#commentsTue, 09 Sep 2014 16:02:22 +0000http://blogs.theprovince.com/?p=162587September is here, which means it’s time for EA sports annual offering of its award winning hockey game. This year is a bit different, however, as the NHL series is finally making the leap from current generation consoles to the …]]>September is here, which means it’s time for EA sports annual offering of its award winning hockey game. This year is a bit different, however, as the NHL series is finally making the leap from current generation consoles to the next gen consoles, the PS4 and Xbox One. How well did it do you ask? Well, first off grab yourself a cup of coffee, because we might be here a while. I traditionally write way too much in my NHL series reviews and this year looks to be no different. You want videos, graphs, and a high word count? I GOT YOU COVERED!

Before we begin, however, let us not forget that NHL 15 is also coming out on the Xbox 360 and PS3. Since that review will be much shorter, let’s start there.

Xbox 360/PS3 NHL 15 Review:

There are next to no improvements made from NHL 14 to NHL 15 on current generation consoles. They’ve added the new commentary (kicking out Thorne and Clement, thank you hockey gods, thank you), and then that’s about it. Oh, they made the puck not jump into the air like the opening tip off of an NBA game everytime the puck is dumped into the corner. Which is an improvement, don’t get me wrong, but it’s amusing to wonder why they even bothered with that.

Hypothetical NHL 15 Team Conversation

Charging full price ($70) for what amounts to a roster update, a new background menu, and new commentary is something I would never be able to do with a straight face. That is probably why the PR from EA this year rarely touched on the 360 or PS3 versions, because even they couldn’t come up with good enough spin to justify spending full price for NHL 15 on current gen consoles.

Now, to be fair, whatever resources the NHL team had were most likely spent on the next gen version of NHL 15, which is where I would hope they would be spending the majority of their time. I just think they could have charged $30 for current gen NHL 15 as a gesture of goodwill, knowing that the game basically has nothing new to offer.

Xbox One/ PS4 NHL 15 Review

Which brings us to the reason we’re all here. How did they do? Well to answer that, we must break it down into two groups. Casual gamers, and hardcore NHL series gamers.

To the casual gamers, you will love this game. Go pick it up, it’s a great game to show off on your new Xbox One or Ps4. It is probably the best game of hockey you’ve ever played. It’s an awesome game to bust out when a friend comes over, or if you just want to play alone, it has a season mode that should offer you up enough entertainment to get your moneys worth. There is also some online play if you want to try your hand against some random strangers.

No Online Team Play (when this is patched into the game later this year, it will use real NHL players and teams)

No EA Sports Hockey League

No EA Sports Arena

No Online Shootouts

No Live the Life

No Be A Legend

No Winter Classic

No tournaments or Battle for the Cup

No season mode (you can only play seasons in Be A GM, which is limited to NHL teams)

No NHL 94 Anniversary mode

No custom music support

No create-a-play designer

Cannot customize each team’s AI

No create-a-team

No way to edit individual players

Practice mode is now limited to one skater vs. an AI goalie

Gameplay

No custom camera option

No Action Tracker replay highlights

No Top 3 Stars at the end of games.

Be A GM

Yearly draft is fully automated by the CPU

Cannot play the AHL games for your chosen franchise

Players sent down to the minors do not accumulate any season stats

No fantasy draft option

No preseason games

Be A Pro

No option to sim ahead to the next shift

You only play in the NHL; you cannot play for minor league teams

The Memorial Cup tryout period is gone. You now begin by picking an NHL team, or by letting a random CPU team draft you.

No All-Star game

Ultimate Team

Cannot play against your friends

No tournaments

No mobile app

Yes, what looks like a list of game features to be included in the game, is in fact a list of everything missing. I’m still amused that such a small thing like “3 stars of the game” isn’t included, and is sadly being introduced in a later patch. We’ve gotten to the point where games are being rushed out to make deadlines, and simple features like “Three Stars” have become downloadable content.

EASHL and GM Connected mode not being included will cut deep for many people. It’s been stated GM Connected was not played by many people (and I have argued EA never gave GM Connected Mode a chance with its slow menus and confusing off-seasons, but that’s a discussion for another day) and as a result, might never come back to the NHL series.

EASHL will come back next year according to EA, but this leaves the many fans of these modes upset this year. People have grown accustomed to having EASHL and GM Connected in the games, and use these modes a lot to play with their friends, so it will be hard to accept that these modes didn’t make the cut. For a next generation console game it is going to feel like a huge step backwards to lose so much game functionality.

Aside from missing game modes, there are several other things that make NHL 15 feel like an incomplete product. For example, in NHL 14, if a guy got injured, when the whistle went it would show a replay of him getting hurt, then it would show him walking down the tunnel. holding whatever body part happened to have exploded. In NHL 15, the game shows the guy on the ice in pain, then the camera just randomly pans to the crowd, in what looks like an obvious placeholder for what should be a scene of the injured guy hobbling to the back.

Another example of that unfinished feeling is practice mode. You can’t select situational practices, no 4-5, or 5-5, or 5-0 practices. No, you only get the option of 1-0 practices. OK, fine, maybe we can live with that…except it’s even worse that that, you can’t even select which skater you want to use to practice with. Instead, the game chooses the player off of what team you selected as your favorite team when you started the game. So if you chose Vancouver, you get Henrik Sedin. If you chose Tampa Bay, you get Steven Sta- JUST KIDDING. You get Valtteri Filppula. Yes, for some reason you only get to use Filppula instead of Stamkos should Tampa Bay be your favorite team. If you want to practice with a righty instead of a leftie, you have to re-select your favorite team and pray you find a team with a righty. Needless to say, this is very tedious.

Update: Someone was kind enough to let me know of a workaround to who is chosen as your practice player:

Again, a tedious solution, but at least there is a walk around. Thanks Tom!

Want more? What about how in practice mode, there is a phantom goal horn during replays. When you play in practice mode, you normally hear the ice, you hear the puck, and you hear a whistle when the play is dead. Typical on ice noises. When you watch a replay of your goals in practice mode, however? A goal horn will go off during a replay of any goals.

Here’s a hypothetical situation: What if you called up someone from your farm team, and they randomly assigned him a stupid number. Let’s say they assigned your rookie forward the number “1”. You cannot edit that or change it. You are now stuck with him as number “1”. Forever. This frustrates me.

Again, this might be seen as nitpicking, and to a certain extent it certainly is, but all of these things just add up to making the game feel very rushed and unpolished.

Pretty But Shallow

As a result, much like EA’s UFC game put out earlier this year, this leaves you with a product that although looks amazing and plays very nicely, it is very shallow. It’s like they’ve given you the keys to a new Lamborghini, but are only letting you drive it around the block. And told you not to go above 30 mph. And told you you can’t let any of your friends in the car. Then they kicked you in the nuts or lady parts, just because.

And make no mistake about it, the game does look gorgeous. It is the best looking hockey game you will have ever played, and it truly looks like a game worthy of being a next gen console game. If you play NHL 15 for an hour then go back to 14 on the old console, you will wonder why you ever thought 14 looked good.

Fans in the crowd wear a variety of team jerseys, you have a guy selling hot dogs sitting on the stairs during the game, you’ll see people dancing in their seats, the ice scuffs up realistically…it is all very very pretty. The arenas are also so realistic you could swear you could pick out individual seats you’ve sat in before. If you do a replay and look through the glass, it warps your viewpoint, much like it would in real life. The glass has scratches and cuts on it. The ice? You can see the reflection of the jumbotrons video off of it.

How much detail did they put into the game? If you zoom into the score keepers box, you will see a phone that has its own in house line assigned to it. They assigned a fictional in house phone line! (I also enjoyed the fact they upgraded that old CRT monitor in the time keepers box and gave them laptops.)

That’s an insane level of detail. The problem with this detail is it will become a sore point for hardcore fans wanting a robust, deeper NHL experience. Sure, the game looks amazing, but at the end of the day the gameplay is what should be driving the game, and being able to experience that gameplay in a variety of ways. As it stands now, you are limited in what you can do, which will leave many users frustrated that so much effort was put into making it look pretty, versus giving you a deeper gaming experience.

On one hand, I can sympathize with EA. Making the jump to next generation consoles is tough, due to having to rebuild your engine, and due to having to make it look like a next gen game. So yes, it’s good they made the game look so great. The problem is they really did sacrifice a lot of games modes and run the risk of turning people off of paying the $70 price tag because their favorite mode isn’t in the game this year. If they had lost a couple of game modes and options in order to make a pretty game, then sure, maybe that’s palatable. But as it stands now, it feels more like NHL 15 is simply a beta for NHL 16, and that could make people save their money for next year.

The funny thing about all of this however, after all of the negativity the game is going to get, after all of the backlash you’re going to hear about it….the basic gameplay of NHL 15 is the most offline fun I’ve had in a hockey game ever. Let’s get to the good points of the game, shall we?

The Commentary:

In what feels like a nod to the olden days of FMV being all the rage in games (Night Trap!), EA brought in real video intros for the pre game presentation. Doc Emrick and Eddie Olczyk provide the intros, and they filmed several of them for each team, giving you a bit of variety should you watch it more than once. (They even changed the tie colors so they weren’t the same in each video. Well played EA, well played). Of course, most people furiously mash their controller to get to the game after watching the intro once or twice, but still, it’s a nice touch.

The in game commentary is provided by Emrick, Olczyk, and Ray Ferraro, and they do a wonderful job mostly because they aren’t Thorne and Clement. Nothing against Thorne and Clement, but I felt like I had been in a long term relationship with them, and had grown to hate them purely out of the amount of time I had spent with them, that anything they did would send me into a blind rage. If I had to hear Clement go “Woooooo doggy!” one more time, I was going to stab my Xbox.

So while anything new is automatically seen as a win in the commentary department, Emrick actually does a great job of sounding like he’s actually watching the hockey games. Most video game commentary you can tell the guy is reading the script off the page, and it doesn’t sound that authentic. I’m sorry Jim Hughson, but “That’s robbery?” was not delivered like you would in real life. “THAT’S ROBBEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRY.”

Emrick sounds like he’s actually excited. Emrick sounds like he thinks a goal was just scored. In fact, I was starting to think Emrick actually thought what he was watching was real hockey, because that’s how into it he sounds.

The only hang up I have about Emrick is he uses the word “geometrically” far too often.

Olczyk bounces between timely insightful comments, and Ralph Wiggum. He’ll either speak up to tell you about the great job the defense did in shutting down the 3 on 2, or he’ll tell you his cats breath smells like cat food. He’ll also mention how someone gave someone a birthday present “four months early” after a big hit, ALL THE TIME. You will learn to hate this line. Oh how you will learn to hate it.

Ray Ferraro does a good job as well, sounding like the angry disapproving man he normally sounds like, but much like the other two, he struggles with having limited commentary. Obviously building up a game commentary for a zillion situations is a daunting task that will take several games to build up a huge reserve of lines, and they had to start from the ground up for NHL 15, and it shows in this game. It ends up making Ray Ferraro sound like an informant who doesn’t want to give up too much information.

“What happened Ray?”

“I heard a guy was injured…”

“Which guy Ray?”

“From one of the teams….”

“Which team??”

“I couldn’t say…”

Aside from the fact the commentary will probably get repetitive quicker than one would like, it’s a very strong part of the game.

Also, Ray Ferraro loves highlighting the play of Kevin Bieksa. In all of the games I’ve played, Ray only talks about Bieksa hitting people. Ray loves him some Kevin. He has yet to highlight anybody else.

Puck Physics

After playing on the old engine for so many years, people got very used to how the puck would bounce. You kind of knew where and how the puck would always end up going. As a result, sometimes the game felt very repetitive, and lost a lot of excitement. The only way the game would become random was when the puck would inexplicably bounce 50 feet in the air and all of your players would huddle around beneath it, waiting for the puck to settle back down on earth. Thankfully, they took out that puck bounce.

NHL puck physics also mean the puck doesn’t just stick or get sucked into a persons stick. This can lead to goals like this:

That. Is. Beautiful.

That is the kind of thing that didn’t happen in 12, 13, or 14. The puck would have been sucked into that defenseman and he would have gone about his merry way. Getting breakaways against the AI in 14 rarely happened, due to the fact it was so hard to get that puck by the computer with long passes or lucky bounces. In 15? The puck feels so loose and feels like it has a lot more weight to it. The puck will bounce off skates, sticks, players, all creating wonderful chaotic situations, much like in real life. The puck actually has a chance to bounce past players without magically sticking to them:

This creates a lot more variety in the type of scoring chances you’ll see in NHL 15. It can also cause odd man rushes and breakaways based purely off of a guy missing a puck, which is far more realistic than in years past.

On top of that, it also creates better looking tip goals. This goal made me jump up and fist pump several times:

Just throwing the puck on net, and the guy tips it in like it’s no big deal. Awesome.

Defence

Poke checking is back and better than ever. In 14 they preached about poke check accuracy, which was ok, but not super realistic because some people try and poke check between legs or around arms and are able to do it quite well in real life. In 14 they wanted you to have a direct line of sight on the puck, otherwise the game would give you a shitty tripping penalty, as if to remind you what an idiot you were for daring to poke check the puck from the side.

In NHL 15, you can spam the poke check button and your guy will auto aim at the puck and it is hard to get a tripping penalty from what I’ve experienced. Now, one might think this would make poke checking over powered, but the new puck physics (which makes sure the puck doesn’t get sucked automatically into anyone) and the fact they’ve added a new quick cutting deke to the game is there to try and balance out the poke check.

The new cutting deke is performed by hitting both your analog sticks in the same direction, and which ever direction you pushed them towards, your guy will cut quickly and skate in that direction, creating separation from you and the defender poking at you. On top of that, if you click both sticks one direction then the opposite direction, you can do a nifty Fedor Federov-esque head fake, which is all kinds of awesome.

Hitting has also been refined in the game. In 14, the hits were way too big and way too over the top. In 15, the hits don’t feel as “meaty”, which is a tad disappointing, but the hits don’t become a ridiculous side show anymore. Big hits happen, team mates can collide, but everyone recovers pretty quickly, making sure you aren’t giving up goals due to the fact your guy is down in the corner from a big hit. You can also go to throw a hit and fall down yourself, which is a nice risk/reward factor to include in deciding whether to go for a hit or not. It is also pretty fun to watch team mates run into each other, or in the case of the Oilers, ninja kick their team mates and knocking them out.

Want another example of something so crazy it blew my mind? Players shoulders and arms will actually collide and react to the boards DURING GOAL CELEBRATIONS.

This is probably the smallest thing to a lot of people, but I hated how the players would act like a stiff board when hitting the boards doing the dive celebration. When I saw Matthias’ arm and shoulder actually impact with the boards, it was glorious.

Goalies

Goalies seem to push off much more, rather than teleporting back into position. This of course leads to more variety in goals. Goalies can make mistakes now when they try and slide in their crease, and they don’t just magically appear in the exact center of their net when they get into trouble.

Again, we’ll need a month of playing the game before we can see if this goaltending will get exposed or become horrible to deal with, but it’s a step in the right direction, regardless. Goalies pushing off their skates and over committing is part of the NHL, this is far better than teleporting.

Another neat thing is the puck deflects in off the goalie better.

Again, all of the small improvements to the game add to the variety of scoring chances and goals, which is always a top priority for any hockey game.

Passing and Shooting

Shooting is a little too accurate. If you’re a fan of “off the post and in” goals, well, this game was made for you. Half of my goals would hit the one post, fly to the other post, then drop down or shoot out of the net.

Again, this is fine once in a while, but when you have guys like Roman Polak going bar down or sniping a laser off the bar and in, it makes me feel uncomfortable about what I’m watching. It would be nice if more shots went wide or some shots just went in, you know, not off the post, maybe just inside the post. Still, it feels really nice to score goals like this:

A lot of my review was based on “Out of the Box” settings. Once I tweaked the settings, it became a lot more enjoyable for me. For some reason on the hardcore settings, shooting and passing accuracy were still set pretty high. Also, the goalie playing the puck frequency setting was jacked all the way up, so be prepared for a lot of stupid passes from the AI goalies for no reason unless you tone that down.

Backhanders felt too overpowered, and cross crease one timers seemed to be really prevalent, not only from the computer AI but from online people as well. To be fair, I realized early on that I was pulling my d-man out of position going for big hits, and the AI was exposing me when I did this, which is great to see, but the one timers still felt like a go to move far too many times from people I played against. Short side goals and wraparound goals remain a possible problem for online games. You really need a month with the game online to truly find out the sore spots of the AI when it comes to online money goals, so it’s hard to weigh in fully on that right now.

Final Thoughts

I went into NHL 15 mad and frustrated at the lack of game modes. From the outside looking in, it makes no sense why so many cuts were made to the game. It is maddening to realize that NHL 16 will be the game that we all thought NHL 15 was going to be.

The first couple of games of NHL 15 reinforced this thought process. Not even being able to edit my players?? Not being able to choose my player for practice mode?? On top of my favorite game mode GM Connected being cut?? When compared to Madden 15, NHL looked even worse. Madden has so many modes, its modes have modes.

Then after a few more games I began to realize how much potential this game has. The new engine is much superior to that of the NHL games of years past. It doesn’t make up for the lack of game modes, but at least the game play itself is extremely fun.

Should you buy this game? It depends how much you love your game modes. I, fortunately, am a huge fan of offline Be a GM Mode, so this game is worth it for me. I’m still upset I don’t have GM Connected Mode, and that me and 29 of my friends might never get it back again. I still think it’s awful that NHL 15 is full price for the 360 and PS3, and I still think someone at EA screwed up by not making more game modes and tightening up the game a priority. It’s hard to justify spending $70 on a game, much less a game that comes with 70% less functionality then last years.

Overall I give this game a 7 out of 10. It gets that high because, again, I enjoy offline Be a GM Mode. If you were only into the game for a certain mode, however, you will probably want to wait until next year.

If you play NHL for the online modes only, I would say give it a hard long thought about skipping this game. The odds of EA nailing the goalie AI enough in year one to make online games not turn into a scoring fest seems very slim. Already people have told me how easy it is to score online, so that’s something to keep in mind.

For everyone else, this is the best representation of hockey in video game form I’ve played yet, so if you’re ok with limited game modes, you should pick this game up.

]]>http://blogs.theprovince.com/2014/09/09/nhl-15-review/feed/10lackkidr0llphonyrammernhl15nhlhamSCORERSBOXnh15tiefinalEA Sports UFC video game lands a knockouthttp://blogs.theprovince.com/2014/06/20/ea-sports-ufc-video-game-lands-a-knockout/
http://blogs.theprovince.com/2014/06/20/ea-sports-ufc-video-game-lands-a-knockout/#commentsFri, 20 Jun 2014 22:15:57 +0000http://blogs.theprovince.com/?p=156455It’s been quite a while since we had a fresh sports franchise, but the landing of EA Sports UFC this week really raises some eyebrows.
Mixed Martial Arts had been given a general go by EA before, but when the …]]>

UFC Light Heavyweight champ Jon Jones is the cover star, along with Alexander Gustaffsson in EA Sports UFC video game, and he looks as real in the game as he can get.

Miesha Tate is just one of the big name fighters in EA Sports UFC game.

Anthony “Showtime” Pettis in EA Sports UFC game has the tattoos in amazing detail that he has in real life.

It’s been quite a while since we had a fresh sports franchise, but the landing of EA Sports UFC this week really raises some eyebrows.
Mixed Martial Arts had been given a general go by EA before, but when the Ultimate Fighting Championship had their game rights pop up after prior holder THQ went bankrupt, it was always going to be interesting to see what the preminent sports-game makers would do with the official licence to the new combat sport.
Start with the looks. I’ve never seen a video game representing real-life characters look as spot on as this.
The PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions are remarkable in how detailed and accurate they look.
Trademark tattoos are identifiable, facial features, scars, hairstyles are all exactly as you see the fighters in real life. We’ve seen this kind of detail before, in particular in a fighting game as EA Canada has produced the special boxing game Fight Night.
But with the new technology in the next-generation consoles, it has been taken to another level. Seeing the real-time attacks take their toll on a fighter’s face is a programming, and artistic triumph. Cuts and bruises develop and it will help you if you keep attacking that area.
Where EA Sports UFC still has a bit of a learning curve though is in the real dynamics of MMA, when the fight gets taken to the mat. It’s one thing to have collision detection used in so many games, from the NHL, FIFA and Madden games, and even here the UFC game with regards to punches and kicks.
It’s more about the trickiness of programming the wrestling holds on the ground and having it look natural. For the most part it does but there are times it comes off awkward.
As this is a new game there is a tutorial at the beginning that will give you challenges as you move through training. If you played any of the excellent Fight Night games this will be familiar to you, work on a specific skill, level up and then take it to the ring.
There are different modes so you can create your own fighter and move up through the small gyms of The Ultimate Fighter to the big Pay Per View events, or fight as any of the big-name licensed fighters like cover boy Jon Jones, local hero Rory MacDonald or in the women’s division Ronda Rousey.
All of the big names, Jonny Hendricks, Georges St. Pierre, Cain Velasquez, Anthony Pettis, Daniel Cormier are in the game along with legends like Chuck Liddell and the mythical inclusion of long-time fighting icon Bruce Lee.

The moves are all true to what you see in the octagon and the training will give you the tools on how to use them, and you best pay attention. If you just try to stand and trade in the middle of the ring, you’re going to get worked. You need a varied attack and need to watch your defence. You can’t just treat this like Fight Night, or even Tekken, and mash punches and kicks. You will get taken down, and you will get submitted. You will also get worn out. UFC fighters are amongst the best-conditioned athletes on the planet and even they get exhausted after three five-minute rounds. If you just blindly mash punches and kicks, you’ll run out of gas in a hurry and it will be all over.
From that standpoint it’s a great way to learn about the sport and to understand the strategy.
From a game perspective, EA has done a magnificent job with the controls and the game mechanics. This is a new venture for them so they were working with a blank canvas and the controls are easy to use and intuitive.
The game itself plays great as you go through the roster and try and unlock items or roll on with your career. You can also fight online which is a bit of a different proposition as facing human opponents is a lot more unpredictable. Again, it’s a new game so expect to find some “money” moves where there’s a bit of a loophole, and the same things can exploited over and over again. It’s also tough to get a “submission” versus a human opponent because without the real pain that comes along with it, there’s not that survivalist need to “tap out”.
As an initial effort this is a wonderful game. If there was anything to quibble with, it would be that there’s not more in the game, but understandably there was a lot to build and a lot more to come in subsequent sequels.
I like the inclusion of Bruce Lee, some didn’t, but I can see an arcade mode coming in future versions to add some real over-the-top fighting to it and add depth to the game. I’m not sure you’ll see, say, the inclusion of a Mortal Kombat like Scorpion attack, but I can see the game getting an “NFL Street” style mode down the road.
One of the best looking games there is, if you are a UFC fan, or a fighting game fan in general, you’ll really enjoy this one.Rating: T for Teen, animated violence, blood.What’s right: Great look, realism, fighters, excellent control system.What’s wrong: Could use more modes, more depth.Numb Thumb: Graphics A; Gameplay B; Control B; Value B. Overall a B on the Numb Thumb.]]>http://blogs.theprovince.com/2014/06/20/ea-sports-ufc-video-game-lands-a-knockout/feed/1paulchapmanprovinceUFC Light Heavyweight champ Jon Jones is the cover star, along with Alexander Gustaffsson in EA Sports UFC video game, and he looks as real in the game as he can get.Miesha Tate is just one of the big name fighters in EA Sports UFC game.Anthony "Showtime" Pettis in EA Sports UFC game has the tattoos in amazing detail that he has in real life.Wolfenstein: The New Order, the Grandaddy of First-Person Shooters goes modernhttp://blogs.theprovince.com/2014/06/06/wolfenstein-the-new-order-the-grandaddy-of-first-person-shooters-goes-modern/
http://blogs.theprovince.com/2014/06/06/wolfenstein-the-new-order-the-grandaddy-of-first-person-shooters-goes-modern/#commentsFri, 06 Jun 2014 21:44:37 +0000http://blogs.theprovince.com/?p=154950There can be something so awesome when new video game technology brings along a sense of nostalgia and makes some creative magic.
We’ve seen that with Mario Kart 8 on the Wii, and now with Wolfenstein: The New Order on …]]>

Dual wielding guns brings an old-school shooter feel to this new FPS game.

There can be something so awesome when new video game technology brings along a sense of nostalgia and makes some creative magic.
We’ve seen that with Mario Kart 8 on the Wii, and now with Wolfenstein: The New Order on PlayStation 4, PS3, Xbox One, Xbox 360 and PC.
This first-person shooter was the forerunner of Doom, and though we have stunning new graphics and gameplay tricks, you still have that frenetic feel wielding multiple weapons at once and popping in and out of doorways taking out demonic Nazis.
It’s almost like if Steven Spielberg remade Jaws with CGI so the shark didn’t look like a toy submarine with a styrofoam fin on top.
Though Wolfenstein does feature some fantastical weapons and some large mech robots, the game is set in 1960. The Nazis won the war and now rule the world in an era of oppression and compliance.
You are Blazkowicz, and you start in the game in 1946, leading a desperate mission into the heart of the Third Reich to save the world. You fail, get a head injury and spend 14 years in an institution before escaping to try and single-handedly destroy the Nazis.
The game has the look of a modern shooter, but a definitive retro feel. Let’s not forget Wolfenstein is the granddaddy of every shooter you see out there today.
You still run over ammo packs, health kits and power ups to keep going, and there’s no real “aiming” you just face and keep firing. You aren’t limited to carrying two weapons, what you have in your arsenal is always with you, and its fast and frantic.
You act out missions for the resistance, sometimes using stealth, sometimes using just brute force, and the game does encompass some great variety in pacing some of your missions. Sneak through stone-walled dungeons avoiding detection to sneak up behind a series of commanders and take them out quietly, or race through open courtyards taking out legions of genetically-engineered super-Nazis before being faced by a giant, gnashing dog-like mech shooting missiles at you, this is a compelling effort that will leave you twitchy at the end of each session.
While defeating the enemy and moving forward is relentless in the game, there is, of course, a collection system. Complete side tasks to earn perks, find weapon upgrades to change your tactics.
This is a game set in the 1960s, so the weapons are generic “machine gun style” with a few futuristic twists, but adding a mini rocket launcher to the bottom of your rifle adds to the fun and certainly helps in taking out giant mechs.
One of the best reminders that Wolfenstein the iconic Doom are from the same gene pool is the weapons cache, fun, expansive and easy to use. Modern shooter games force you into carrying just two, but I love the strategic option of having my full arsenal available at any time. That’s much more favourable to me than, “oh look, a rocket launcher is conveniently on the ground, guess I’ll swap out my sniper rifle because I’m about to fight a big, armoured enemy”.
This game is fun, retro but with upgraded technology, doesn’t take itself too seriously and gets the heart pumping.
It’s not trying to be bigger than a pure FPS story, with a great storyline and it knows it’s somewhat of an homage to the early days of console gaming and something that doesn’t try to bring a gaming revolution, but rather plays to its strengths.
If you are an older-school gamer who played Wolfenstein and Doom, or just a fan of FPS games, you should really check out Wolfenstein: The New Order as it’s a foundation of the game world we know today.
Rating: M for Mature, violence, language, adult themes.
What’s right: Weapons, old school mechanics, lots of fun.
What’s wrong: Enemy AI can often be both dumb and cheap.
Numb Thumb: Graphics A; Gampeplay B; Value B; Control B. Overall a B on the Numb Thumb.

]]>http://blogs.theprovince.com/2014/05/29/mysterious-millionaire-hiding-cash-around-l-a-tweeting-location-clues/feed/0rolfsenXbox One selling out: Microsoft’s new game console a hit (with video)http://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/11/22/xbox-one-selling-out-microsofts-new-game-console-a-hit-with-video/
http://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/11/22/xbox-one-selling-out-microsofts-new-game-console-a-hit-with-video/#commentsSat, 23 Nov 2013 04:56:07 +0000https://postmediaprovince.wordpress.com/?p=136115The Xbox One is on store shelves today, but already stores are reporting Microsoft’s newest game console is sold out.

Best Buy and Future Shop stores across Canada opened at midnight last night to give shoppers an early chance to …

]]>The Xbox One is on store shelves today, but already stores are reporting Microsoft’s newest game console is sold out.

Best Buy and Future Shop stores across Canada opened at midnight last night to give shoppers an early chance to pick up the long-awaited Xbox One and London Drugs reports customers were lined to buy and the Xbox One is sold out or close to sold out in all its stores.

Emanuel Jumatate, from Chicago, hugs his new Xbox One after he purchased it at a Best Buy on Friday, Nov. 22, 2013, in Evanston, Ill. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Coming one week after the release of the PlayStation 4, which remains sold out among many retailers although some are now taking reservations on upcoming shipments, the Xbox One saw record pre-sales, more than double its predecessor the Xbox 360. Already some sites, such as EB Games are reporting the new Xbox One isn’t available, except for those who pre-ordered one.

London Drugs expects delivery to stores around Dec. 5th or 6th, of both the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One. Meanwhile the retailer is taking the names of customers wishing to buy either a PlayStation 4 or an Xbox One.

Best Buy and Future Shop are reporting many stores sold out although the Xbox One is still available for online ordering. Elliott Chun, a spokesperson for Future Shop said there are “a few” of the Xbox One consoles still available but they’re expected to sell out soon. The retailer will have more shipments of both the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 between now and Christmas.

I met with Glenn Purkis, Xbox Live manager for Microsoft Canada. He said there are 48 million Xbox Live subscribers around the world and pre-orders were sold out for the new Xbox One before its launch. Since consumers, who for so long had no new game consoles to choose from, now have two, I asked Glenn for his top three reasons why someone should choose an Xbox One over a PlayStation 4. Here’s a video from our conversation and a demo of the Xbox One.

]]>http://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/11/22/xbox-one-selling-out-microsofts-new-game-console-a-hit-with-video/feed/0vansundigitallifeEmanuel Jumatate, from Chicago, hugs his new Xbox One after he purchased it at a Best Buy on Friday, Nov. 22, 2013, in Evanston, Ill. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh) Editorial: Why stop at tag? Let’s end all dangershttp://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/11/04/editorial-why-stop-at-tag-lets-end-all-dangers/
http://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/11/04/editorial-why-stop-at-tag-lets-end-all-dangers/#commentsTue, 05 Nov 2013 00:17:22 +0000http://blogs.theprovince.com/?p=134295While many people will grouse, we should all cheer on the new safety-first initiatives of Coghlan Fundamental Elementary School officials in Aldergrove.

In a letter to parents Nov. 1, the school announced that because of a “number of injuries,” it …

]]>While many people will grouse, we should all cheer on the new safety-first initiatives of Coghlan Fundamental Elementary School officials in Aldergrove.

In a letter to parents Nov. 1, the school announced that because of a “number of injuries,” it was banning what it described as “hands-on play.” This included any playground games where one child touches another such as tag, holding hands and even “imaginary fighting games,” such as “Star Wars,” where kids don’t actually touch, just wave their arms near each other while making light sabre noises like “pschzzzch” and “zhwooo.”

Finally, someone is thinking of the children, concerned, as numerous moms have warned over the years, that a kid might break their back or put someone’s eye out.

But why stop with tag? Schools should ban all sports, which bring elevated risks of injury. Balls can crack little heads, kids can trip while running, perhaps twist an ankle, get a bruise or even a skinned knee. Concussions? Don’t get us started.

No, the good people at Coghlan are on to something. Kids are precious. We probably shouldn’t even let them ride in cars or ride bicycles due to accidents.

Remember, children are our future. Once born, best to entomb them in bubble wrap to eliminate all risk. Actually, since life is a long path of danger ending in a guaranteed death, we should stop producing kids altogether. It’s for their own good.

Editorials are unsigned opinion pieces that represent the views of The Province editorial board, a group of senior editors.

]]>http://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/11/04/editorial-why-stop-at-tag-lets-end-all-dangers/feed/0tag2editorialpagesMadden 25 still great, just stalehttp://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/09/06/madden-25-still-great-just-stale/
http://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/09/06/madden-25-still-great-just-stale/#commentsFri, 06 Sep 2013 23:02:26 +0000http://blogs.theprovince.com/?p=127695The nights grow longer, the kids head back to school, the temperature cools, and the lure of the outdoors is no longer as strong.

Yes, it’s Madden season. You no longer have to feel guilty about sitting in front of …

]]>The nights grow longer, the kids head back to school, the temperature cools, and the lure of the outdoors is no longer as strong.

Yes, it’s Madden season. You no longer have to feel guilty about sitting in front of the TV and indulging in one of the biggest game franchises out there, and you now have Madden 25, referring to the anniversary year of the game, to play on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, and later this fall on Xbox One and PS4.

I have made the point many times that Madden has reached such a level of excellence that it must be maddening to try and advance the game as a programmer. Well, this time, they really haven’t.

While I still really like the game, and will play it to death, there is so little new of any consequence that it’s actually a let down.

You have some tweaks to some of the modes that have been introduced lately, like adding chemistry between players on Ultimate Team, adding a control to help your stumbling ball carrier dive or regain balance and certainly more plays that pertain to the newer trend of the “pistol” offence that we saw last season.

This is the 25th edition of the game, a huge emphasis was put on marketing the cover star Barry Sanders with a fan bracket vote, but the game lacks much punch at all. There are a legion of legends that you can play as which heralds the history of the franchise, but there’s no great fanfare that marks this important milestone.

There are enhanced Connected Franchise options that let you start as a rookie legend coach, player or owner and work your way through a career, year on year. You can create yourself in any of those positions, or choose players like Jerry Rice, coaches like Tom Landry or even an owner like Jerry Jones. Players appeal are obvious, with coaches its all about strategy, and as an owner you can work to increase revenue by pricing tickets or concessions differently.

Again, it’s a fun feature, but nothing we haven’t really seen before.

The game still has gameplay excellence, but it always has.

While “real” football calls for balance between a run and pass game, Madden still leans more heavily to the pass. This is OK, it’s most people’s preference to try and heave the ball downfield in large gulps than try and grind out 3 yards on the ground. While you can make much more hay throwing the ball, there are many puzzling drops that happen in the game, probably to avoid the game getting too easy. Sure-handed receivers like AJ Green will have the ball delivered perfectly and may drop five or six in one game.

Part of that is exacerbated by the defence. Rushing the passer is still tough to do, overload on a blitz and you may have some success but that leaves you vulnerable to the pass. Rushing four down linemen just doesn’t bring enough consistent heat, try your spins, swims, stunts and it just feels like the quarterback has forever to hit an open receiver.

The one downfall for Madden has always been the confusing menus and the tough process navigating easily from one part to another.

They still employ some cumbersome menus and load times, but often that’s because of the amount of detail needed in having 22 moving players on the field and the depth of the playbook and options.

There are some minor gameplay tweaks beside Connected Franchise, like heat-seeking tackling which can correct some angle issues when the camera isn’t in an ideal spot. Hit the stick for the heat seeking tackling and it will automatically square your defender up to the ball carrier and if you time it right, you’ll be much more successful in taking down the ball carrier. This is key as there’s a new twist that allows a stumbling ball carrier to hit their analog stick and stay on their feet.

Some of the standard features, practice mode, Madden Cards in Ultimate Team and all the online leagues are in tact. Ultimate team has brought back chemistry feature so instead of just throwing stars together you have to look at how your players compliment each other, speed and possession receivers, quick, mobile blockers to behemoth power blockers.

One other issue that has sometimes plagued Madden is the quest to be so true to the TV broadcast presentation. While it takes over 3 hours to play a real game, and that time is filled with commentary and cut-aways between plays, that stuff is boring filler in a game.

The play ends, and you just want to get on with selecting the next play and snapping the ball. Some of the between-play stuff and cutaways to fans or coaches may be true to realism, but it’s annoying to sit through, along with the inane commentary.

The broadcast and audio play-by-play, with Jim Nantz and Phil Simms is mind-numbing, do yourself a favour and turn it off.

Still a great game, but living off its reputation, lets hope the next version on new consoles is a lot fresher and finally employs some meaningful motion-gaming options.

Rating: E for Everyone.

What’s right: Huge playbooks, amazing detail, great online options.

What’s wrong: Very little new features, offensive line still too beastly in passing situations, too wimpy in run blocking.

]]>http://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/09/06/madden-25-still-great-just-stale/feed/1Game Review Madden NFL 25paulchapmanprovinceMadden 25 Cover Player, Pro Football Hall of Famer and former Detroit Lions running back Barry Sanders. (Getty Images) Wii U’s Pikmin 3 collects and shares videogame funhttp://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/08/08/wii-us-pikmin-3-collects-and-shares-videogame-fun/
http://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/08/08/wii-us-pikmin-3-collects-and-shares-videogame-fun/#commentsThu, 08 Aug 2013 20:34:31 +0000http://blogs.theprovince.com/?p=125602While there are many critics of Nintendo who think the gaming company should move on from its roots and create new stories and characters, there is no doubt that when one of the classics hits it’s got some worth.

Pikmin …

]]>While there are many critics of Nintendo who think the gaming company should move on from its roots and create new stories and characters, there is no doubt that when one of the classics hits it’s got some worth.

Pikmin may not be in the legendary category that Mario and Donkey Kong are in, but with the release of Pikmin 3 for the Wii U, the wonderful gameplay that we have seen from Pikmin before is not only present, it’s juiced up in this latest episode.

The story centres on three space travellers who crash land on the Pikmin planet and embark on a quest to find food, not only for survival but also to help revitalize their starving planet. The ship, many of its crucial contents, and the three key characters are scattered around the landscape.

Just as in the first two versions of the game, you encounter small herds of the creatures called Pikmin. You direct the creatures to perform certain tasks for you, and along the way you can cultivate more of the loyal little beasties to help you eat, collect and ultimately move on.

There are different class of Pikmin fire resistant, water-dwellers, shock-resistant Pikmin, even the new flying Pikmin, and the “rock” Pikmin that are bigger and harder and break down more walls and some of the local wildlife that will chomp on your Pikmin for a snack if you don’t take them down first. Choosing which to use on which task is half the fun. There is a great deal of strategy and tactical nous involved. Your multi-tasking skills will be put to great use dividing up your troops and having them deliver on several jobs at the same time.

They are all ferocious, and loyal to a fault, and when you look at your stats and see that you are missing a platoon of Pikmin somewhere, it can induce slight panic.

Indeed the game is great for real little ones, but be prepared to deal with the sadness of the ghostly soul of the Pikmin leaving the body and floating up to heaven when you lose them in battle to the other indigenous monsters on the planet.

Younger players though may have problems with finding food. The game runs on each “day”, where you have to retreat to your space craft and get back into the atmosphere. If you stay out past nightfall, all your Pikmin perish. The problem is each day you need to find food and some of the puzzles are quite tough to solve and my daughter and myself have been painted into the same corner for over a week to the point where she wants to give up on the game.

It’s easy to miss some things early on that make your life harder as the days go by. Make sure you are exploring every nook and cranny of your area, and for this the Wii U gamepad comes into play brilliantly, showing areas with possible tunnels and fruit. Not only can you use it as a map, where you can see where groups of Pikmin are stuck or where fruit and other key findings are, but you can switch to a mode where it gives you the first-person perspective of the Pikmin and you can take and save pictures of what they see.

The game is exceptionally creative and has a great spirit though and whethere you’ve played Pikmin’s earlier versions or not, this is a delightful game for the whole family to play, including the new Bingo Battle mode that adds variety to the main game, along with mission mode.

In Bingo Battle you get a great multiplayer mode where you are given a bingo card and via split screen you have to set out in a map and battle beasties and solve puzzles to collect enough objects to complete a line in your bingo card.

There are plenty of maps, but the action can be fast and frenetic when you realize your opponent needs just one more item to win the game. There’s also a “slot machine” spin where if you collect three cherries you get to spin a machine that will award a power up to you.

Mission mode also creatively uses co-op, where you can work together to collect and solve a map, or competitively. It really adds value to the game and that’s saying something because the main story mode offers hours and hours of gameplay to begin with.

There has been lots of debate about the future of the Wii U console, but if there are more games like Pikmin 3 that’s not going to matter because this game is fantastic and is a must-play.

]]>http://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/08/08/wii-us-pikmin-3-collects-and-shares-videogame-fun/feed/0Pikmin-3-image-3paulchapmanprovinceRogue Legacy Reviewhttp://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/08/01/rogue-legacy-review/
http://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/08/01/rogue-legacy-review/#commentsThu, 01 Aug 2013 15:34:10 +0000http://blogs.theprovince.com/?p=125143The Province still hasn’t given me the ability to name my video game section of the website, so for now my blog is generically named “Gaming”. Yes, nothing is quite as awesome as telling your friends you read a review …]]>The Province still hasn’t given me the ability to name my video game section of the website, so for now my blog is generically named “Gaming”. Yes, nothing is quite as awesome as telling your friends you read a review on “Gaming” the gaming blog…..

Until I am able to force the Province’s hand by being so famous that they HAVE to give me naming rights to my video game blog, I will work under the “Gaming” title. And today I have a review of a great indie game called Rogue Legacy. Now, here is where I am going to give you options; We here at “Gaming: An introspective Gamers look at Gaming in a Gamers World of Games”, the top rated gaming blog in North America like to offer up as many perks as possible.

If you don’t have a lot of time on your hands and have access to some headphones, you can watch the 3 Minute Review I did of this game on the ol’ YouTubes:

Or for those of you who dislike sound because you’re pretending to work, you can continue on reading my full written review.

Rogue Legacy Review

People who will like this game: Fans of old school side scrollers, people who enjoyed Super Ghouls and Ghosts, people who like a challenge and enjoy carrot on a stick gameplay (ie the longer you play, the stronger and better you can make your character)

People who will hate this game: People who hate dying a lot, people that want a super in depth story, people who hate twitch reactionary gameplay.

Before we dive into the game, I want to briefly explain the four pillars of games that I always look at then reviewing a game. They are:

Game-play

Replay-ability

Story-line

Graphics and Sound

Game-play and story-line are generally the most important to me. Game-play is usually number one by a large margin, but in some games, it is almost an atmospheric experience, so in those rare cases, a story-line driven game can excel over shoddy or non existent game-play. But for the most part game-play is king, followed up by the other three factors. With those in mind, let’s get into Rogue Legacy.

Story-line:

The story-line is not what will draw you to this game. Imagine it like it’s Game of Thrones, except there is only one family, nobody is sleeping with each other, and Winterfell is the only castle in all of the land. OK, so it’s nothing like Game of Thrones, but if it helps, you can softly whisper “Hodor” over and over again whilst you play.

The point remains, however, that the game basically gives you a thin premise of how you are trying to clear the castle of a great evil, and in doing so….you’ll get a pony or something? I won’t lie, the story-line is just there to casually appear and say hi before retiring for the night because it has a headache. You will never play this game and tell your friend “Dude, you have no idea, I killed the great evil bad guy and I WON THE GAME. It blew my mind. Up in here. Up in here.”

For some reason I had DMX run through my head….

Story-line 1 out of 10

Game-play:

This is where the game excels. Once you get past the hastily put together premise for the game, you quickly realize you have a fun freaking game on your hands. It’s a bit of a quirky approach to a side scrolling hack and slash, so bear with me while I try and explain…

Basically you start the game and are given three options for a character to choose. These three characters are randomly selected and can be a variety of classes, ranging from a Barbarian, a Paladin, an Assassin, a Ninja, a Magician, etc, etc. Now each class has it’s own inherent traits, so for instance the Barbarian has more hit points then other classes, or the ninja has a higher base damage then other classes. This means depending on your playstyle you will prefer a certain type of class (initially at least. At one point the game turns evil and the only character you will want to use is the Barbarian. Sweet, sweet meat tank Barbarian.)

On top of the character class traits, your character can also have random personality traits assigned to them. This is where it gets interesting because you can get a character that is bald, or farts a lot, which does not effect game-play unless little clouds of green gas shooting out of your bum bother you. You can also get a character that can’t see anything in color or can’t see 3D objects, which is mildly annoying. Or you can get a character that is near sighted so that everything at the edge of your screen is super blurry, which impacts your gameplay quite a bit. Or you might end up with a character that can walk over spike traps without setting them off or when he/she hits enemies it knocks them far back, which help enhance your gameplay greatly. Or you might end up with a character who shoots spells out backwards and walks through the levels upside down, which ruins the game and makes you kill the character off as quickly as possible.

Basically the idea is you have to weigh the pros and cons of the three choices given to you, and you have to try and tackle the castle using that character, with all it’s strengths and flaws, to collect as much money as possible, and to try and kill off the boss of the castle.

Here’s the catch, though. Once you die in this game (and you’ll die. Oh how you’ll die.), your character is dead. Finito. Out of there. Gonzo. You never see them again. So if you got really attached to the Barbarian who could knock enemies far back and was extra fast, I’m afraid to tell you he’s dead. You then have to start your assault on the castle all over again, once again choosing from three randomly generated characters with varying classes and traits, and try and see how far you get this time.

“But Wyatt, what’s the point of this, this all sounds very shallow” you say. The hook of the game is that when you die, the only thing you can pass on is gold. You pass on gold to your next heir and he can spend it on upgrading their stats, or on buying new gear, or on buying magical runes. Upgrades to your stats or buying new gear or runes is permanent. Any character you use after you’ve bought those upgrades has access to them. So slowly buy surely you can keep buying enough gear/upgrades to make a powerful enough character that has enough survivability to beat the game.

Hold on there, though. There is one other catch: you can’t stockpile gold. Every time you pass on gold to your heir, they HAVE to spend it before they enter the castle for the first time, because apparently Death likes to shake you down for your lunch money, and he takes it all away from you. So basically any gold you don’t spend right away, it also goes away. I assume to pay Death’s taxes or something.

So the game basically becomes you going on “runs” where you try and get enough gold to buy the latest upgrade for your character. You also do “runs” to find new blacksmithing plans so you can unlock new swords and armor (which you have to buy even though you provide the plans), or new runes which might give you powers like flight or double jumping. Don’t be shocked if you don’t beat your first boss until you have a level 36 character. This game is not easy to start with and it will make you pay with your life if you are a sloppy gameplayer.

This game, of course, would be garbage if the actual in game action was terrible, but luckily it’s not. In a game that is perfectly suited for a controller (keyboards don’t cut it, you need more precise controls) it provides fast, hard, twitch gameplay. You will be dodging enemies and projectiles left and right, but if you have enough patience to learn enemy patterns, and have enough patience to upgrade your characters stats, you will end up loving this game.

It basically becomes a game of “well I’ll do just one more run” where you try and go through the castle one more time before bed to unlock that latest upgrade. Most runs will last 2-5 minutes until you really get a feel for the game, in which case you might hit a solid 15 minute run.

Game-play 9 out of 10

Sound and Graphics

Sound and graphics are very old school. You won’t be playing for amazing graphics, but if you appreciate Super Nintendo style graphics and sound, you will enjoy them a lot. For those that really prefer high end graphics, this game will anger you with it’s low quality.

Sound and Graphics 7 out of 10 (Considering context. Graphic and sound rating compared to AAA titles would be 1 out of 10)

Replay-ability

Replay-ability is very high in this game. Like I stated earlier, it is addicting as any game I have played in recent memory and you will constantly find yourself trying just one last run. It’s a smart game that puts your next reward JUST out of your reach, thus making the desire to do one more run very high. The prices in the game inflate, so you can’t just buy all of the good stuff right away. The more you buy, the higher the prices become on everything, so if you want upgrades, be prepared to make a lot of gold runs.

The castle is randomly generated each time you play through it (unless you pay a certain someone to “lock” it in place) so every time you run through the game the layout is completely different. The only thing that stays the same is that the castle has four regions, The Tower, The Basement, The Forrest, and the Main Castle, those main areas tend to stay in the same parts of the castle (North, South, East, and West, respectively.) The only thing these environments mean is that the enemies are stronger or different, but the actual map of the castle changes each time, it’s just the regions stay the same…. It will make sense once you play the game.

Replay-ability 9 out of 10

Final Thoughts

This is a great game that I can’t recommend enough. The one drawback I can see for people is some of you might find it to be an annoying game due to the high death rate early on. If you stick with the game and have some patience, however, I think you will find that this game is worth every single penny of the $15 it is on sale for at Steam right now. You can of course wait for a Steam sale, but if you want a quick gaming fix, then I highly recommend you give this game a try. I honestly have not had this much fun with a game in a while.

Final Score: There is no Final Score, gameplay is weighted heavier, go read each individual section you lazy son of a….

]]>http://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/08/01/rogue-legacy-review/feed/0roguekidr0llrogue1rogue2rogue3rogue4Steam Sale Day 2http://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/07/12/steam-sale-day-2/
http://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/07/12/steam-sale-day-2/#commentsFri, 12 Jul 2013 17:52:38 +0000http://blogs.theprovince.com/?p=123584OK, I thought I might as well post about the Steam Sale and give my thoughts on the games that go on sale in case you were pondering picking up a game or two. So let’s dive right into today’s …]]>OK, I thought I might as well post about the Steam Sale and give my thoughts on the games that go on sale in case you were pondering picking up a game or two. So let’s dive right into today’s sales!

Who Should Buy: People who don’t mind spending $4 for a game that will provide a few laughs. One of those games you can show your friends in that “dude you have to see this game” kind of ways. Ridiculous game.

Who Should Not Buy: People who will get annoyed at a niche genre game that gets old relatively quickly.

People who should buy this game: People who really really love sniper games and are desperate for some more FPS action at a cheap price. People who can’t resist the savings from $30 to $5.

People who should not buy this game: People who realize there are tons of better FPS options out there and don’t want to deal with a below average sniper game that treads the line between a COD clone and a stealth tactical game poorly.

People who should buy this game: Fans of hack and slash games like Devil May Cry. Also, people who love loot games, like Diablo. Basically you run around kicking the crap out of enemies and upgrading your skills and equipment. If you want a solid game to play, this will do the trick.

People who should not buy this game: People who prefer their 3rd person hack and slashers on a console. People who find hack and slash games repetitive. This game does not re-invent the wheel for this genre.

People who should buy this game: People who enjoy tactical games. It’s like a chess game, but with guns, aliens, and politics. Dirty dirty politics. Seriously though, this is one of the best games I have played in years, I can’t recommend it enough.

People who should not buy this game: People who find slow paced games boring or tedious. People looking for an action game. This game is a turn based strategy game so it can be slow moving at times, and learning curve on how to upgrade your guys can be a bit steep, so if all of that sounds very tiring to you, you should pass on it.

People who should buy this game: People looking for something different. This is a FPS game based in medieval times, so if the thought of having massive online melee battles sounds fun to you, you will want to give this a try. If you like this game, odds are you will love it. Has a bit of a cult following.

People who should not buy this game: People who don’t like unpolished games, as this game does not have AAA title finish on it. The user interface is buggy and the gameplay can be clunky at times. Hit detection is an issue, so if you like your gameplay refined, give this one a pass.

People who should buy this game: People who love the show, people who enjoy games that have great stories and character development. TellTale Games has done Back to the Future and Jurrasic Park games, and this continues the tradition of making fun, click and move based games based off of TV shows and movies. It is not action action action, but it brings another side of the Walking Dead world to life, and is engaging as any game out there, despite not being all action all the time. Game plays out different depending on your actions, which makes decision making tougher than it sounds.

People who should not buy this game: People who want action action action. People who are tired of zombie related things. Basically think of it as an interactive story, so if that sounds dull to you, then pass on this one.

People who should buy this game: People who LOVE Call of Duty games and can’t get enough of them. To be fair to COD, this game has non-linear elements to it finally, but you would have to really have extra money on hand or really really be dying to play the multiplayer with your buddies to slap down $30 for the game. Still, if you haven’t played a COD game in a while, then you might as well pick this one up as it is one of the best COD games made in a while. Very well polished.

People who should buy this game: People who are tired of COD or prefer Battlefield 3. Or people who really only enjoy surgery simulation games.

Now being a big fan of Breaking Bad, my immediate thought was that “blue ice” could mean only one thing: Heisenberg was finally going to make the jump into video games.

Imagine it:

You have three periods to make as much blue meth as possible. Every 10-12 minutes the cops show up in which you have to skate away from them for 1 minute until you lose them. You can use a power up to call in your brother in law to lose the cops once a game. In between periods you use your RV as a Zamboni/cook spot, going up and down the ice, making your blue ice. Pressing “B” repeatedly will speed up the cooking process but if you don’t perfectly clean the ice, you lose points, so you have to multitask. Every once in a while Skylar shows up and if she catches you the game ends, ruining any fun you’ve had, and the game breaks.

I could get on board with this.

While I was close in my guess, I was a bit off as it was revealed today that NHL ’14 would include a NHL ’94 Anniversary Mode, which while lacking in Heisenberg hi-jinx, would include a variety of vintage hockey goodness:

Now I will freely admit one thing, that I am a way bigger fan of NHL ’95 for the Sega Genesis then I am for NHL ’94. However, I do recognize the historical importance of NHL ’94, and the fact that the majority of people view this game as the pinnacle of vintage hockey gaming, so I understand the love it continues to get. (People still play the game to this day)

That being said, I was not that excited when I first saw the rumors of NHL ’94 being in NHL ’14. I thought all it was going to be was a quick port of ’94 being shoved into a corner of ’14 and that was it. It would be something I would play once and forget it even existed (like I did when it was included with NHL ’06).

One quick glance at the video though and I realized they planned on making it “Anniversary MODE” and not just a simple port, and then I began to get excited. NHL 14 graphics with NHL 94 gameplay? That is something that could be a lot of fun with your buddies.

- Insane hits

- No rules

- Hitting the goalie

- The goalie hitting you

- The amazing tinny goal horn

- ORGAN MUSIC

- I NEED TO SAY IT AGAIN, ORGAN MUSIC

- One timer fests

- The goal celebration where you raise your stick above your head like sand person in Star Wars:

- ORGAN MUUUUUUUUUUUUUUSIC

Basically if you and your buddies ever played NHL ’94 together, now is your chance to re-live some memories and beat the crap out of each other in an online environment. Sounds pretty awesome to me.

Now the only thing I want to know is if the garbage can sound when you hit a guy into the bench will be making a comeback….

Stay tuned for more NHL ’14 news as I will be having a sit down interview with NHL 14 producer Sean Ramjagsingh in August!

]]>http://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/07/11/nhl-14-introduces-nhl-94-anniversary-mode/feed/0nhl-94-genesis (570 x 386)kidr0llbbsandcanucksAnimal Crossing: A New Leaf worth a lookhttp://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/06/21/animal-crossing-a-new-leaf-worth-a-look/
http://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/06/21/animal-crossing-a-new-leaf-worth-a-look/#commentsFri, 21 Jun 2013 22:15:58 +0000http://blogs.theprovince.com/?p=121513While the new consoles for Sony and Microsoft stole the show at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in L.A., Nintendo has been quietly putting together some solid gameplay experiences.

While the Wii U has been challenged in coming up with landmark …

]]>While the new consoles for Sony and Microsoft stole the show at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in L.A., Nintendo has been quietly putting together some solid gameplay experiences.

While the Wii U has been challenged in coming up with landmark games, the 3DS has been hitting it out of the park.

The future of portable gaming is very much in debate with the explosion of smart phones, but while Nintendo can pump out games like Animal Crossing: New Leaf on a portable system, they’re going to be fine.

The Animal Crossing series has been a great one for Nintendo. True, it does skew quite young, but the cast of characters and the interaction and building of a home and lifestyle, those kids who get into Animal Crossing find it nearly as addictive as playing Pokemon.

To cut to the quick, you quickly go from happy-go-lucky citizen of Pancako to mayor of the town and it’s pretty clear your electorate is demanding. You’re charged with going from a folksy little town to a bustling metropolis.

To make the transition you have to earn funds, and spend them wisely, starting off with park benches moving up to transit projects, maybe even bike lanes!

It’s a very happy game because of the cute animals and cheerful settings, but there can be a lot of stress in New Leaf as you actually hear from your secretary the complaints people have about the way you’re running their city.

They don’t want to pay taxes, in the form of bells, and you have to compel them to contribute by spending what you do have wisely.

You must explore all areas of the game to find various things to make money, so you are constantly having to balance what your focus is. Find and create some source of commerce, build and create to keep the citizens appeased and contributing their “bells” to the tax base, and interact with people to gain their support.

This is clearly a kids game but the way it brings the concept of economics and social issues into the background to be somewhat educational to the kids playing.

The game looks bright and cheery though as mentioned the “cuteness” factor is huge in it so it’s not a game that older gamers would really take to. Games like Donkey Kong, Mario and Pikmin may have enough gameplay to get by that, but this one really is just for a younger audience.

Part RPG, part SIM City, this is a game that once those younger kids pick up, they’ll have a hard time putting it down. It does have great charm and allows you a tremendous amount of freedom in what you do and when you do it. It’s not mission, or task oriented so there’s no real way to fail at the game, it’s just a constant quest to build and grow.

Rating: E for Everyone.
What’s right: Loads of different directions and decisions to take the game in different directions.
What’s wrong: Some of the dialogue is repetitive and holds up the game, some difficult menu navigation.
Numb Thumb: Gameplay A; Control C+; value A. Overall a B+ on the Numb Thumb.

Xbox One Up
Maybe the Xbox One won a free life. After roundly being hammered for its “always connected” caveat on its new console, and the fact that the “digital rights” to the game were held by Microsoft and games couldn’t be resold. Well huge credit to MS for listening to consumers and they dropped that condition this week.

In fact you will be able to re-sell games and you will not have to be full-time connected to the internet in order to play games and can play them on discs once the Xbox One is released this fall as you can with the 360.
I understand what MS was trying to do here as many game developers are losing a lot of money and people who share games take sales away. But a game is an asset and just like people can sell a pair of shoes, or a ticket to an event, once you’ve bought it, it’s yours to do with as you like.

You can expect more “subscription” style fees though, extra money to play games online or download extra weapons or teams or features.

From Last to First
Am not deep enough into The Last of Us for a review this week but expect one next week. The exclusive for the PlayStation 3, about a group of survivors trying to eke out an existence in an apocalyptic world is brilliant on first blush.
Made by Naughty Dog, the developers who brought us Uncharted, this game is brilliant and so far looks to be the game of the year to this point.

]]>http://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/06/21/animal-crossing-a-new-leaf-worth-a-look/feed/1Animal_CrossingpaulchapmanprovinceXbox backs down off of online check ins, used game restrictionshttp://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/06/19/xbox-backs-down-off-of-online-check-ins-used-game-restrictions/
http://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/06/19/xbox-backs-down-off-of-online-check-ins-used-game-restrictions/#commentsWed, 19 Jun 2013 22:54:15 +0000http://blogs.theprovince.com/?p=121229As reported earlier today, Microsoft apparently grew tired of the internet promising to “pwn their asses like the noobs they are” and decided to do an abrupt turn around on their earlier stances on used game restrictions and the infamous …]]>As reported earlier today, Microsoft apparently grew tired of the internet promising to “pwn their asses like the noobs they are” and decided to do an abrupt turn around on their earlier stances on used game restrictions and the infamous 24 hour online check in.

This is one of those rare times when the internet wins, folks, so take a moment to enjoy it.

This of course changes everything, as we saw with my preview of both systems, the majority of the negatives for the Xbox were the fact they had all of these restrictions in place. The only concern for the Xbox One now is the fact that it is still $100 more expensive, and the fact they might already have damaged the trust of some of their fan base with their earlier approach with the new console.

“Fortunately we have a product for people who aren’t able to get some form of connectivity. It’s called Xbox 360.”

This comment will live forever in infamy.

Regardless, due to the backlash of anger and vitriol sent Microsofts way, they had no choice but to make a decision, and they chose to go with the will of the people and take away all of the DRM inspired ideas they had originally planned. There is a drawback to this, however, as the Xbox One will no longer be able to share games with your family like they had previously talked about, and you have to go back to sharing games the old fashioned way of handing them over to your buddy, but to many this is a small price to pay to avoid the online check ins and restrictions placed on selling and lending out used games.

I would caution, however, that companies will find probably a way to restrict your games eventually. I highly doubt Microsoft (or Sony for that matter) has tabled the idea of DRM forever. It’s just that next time they will be smarter about they restrict you, and they won’t make such a big mess out of it like they did this time around.

The 2013 Console Wars have just gotten a lot more interesting as the gap between the consoles has shrunken considerably, though, which should make for a very interesting time for everyone watching the race.

Has today’s news changed your opinion? Would you buy an Xbox now? Were you always going to buy an Xbox no matter what? Weigh in and let me know!

Also a stick tap to @rsen9 for this potential new name for the Xbox console:

]]>http://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/06/19/xbox-backs-down-off-of-online-check-ins-used-game-restrictions/feed/1xbox2kidr0llinternet-winsXbox One vs Playstation 4: Which should you get?http://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/06/17/xbox-one-vs-playstation-4-which-should-you-get/
http://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/06/17/xbox-one-vs-playstation-4-which-should-you-get/#commentsMon, 17 Jun 2013 08:44:26 +0000http://blogs.theprovince.com/?p=120129With Sony and Microsoft having finally revealed themselves to us (mental note: must work on ambiguous opening sentences….), the big question that now remains for gamers is, “which system do I buy?”

For obvious reasons, I think we can safely …

]]>With Sony and Microsoft having finally revealed themselves to us (mental note: must work on ambiguous opening sentences….), the big question that now remains for gamers is, “which system do I buy?”

For obvious reasons, I think we can safely take the Wii U out of this equation, as that console has a decidedly different set of games for it. This means if you are buying a Wii U for the Nintendo first party games of glory, you would probably still be open up to the idea of buying another console. Interestingly enough, many third party gaming companies are staying away from the Wii U due to it’s lack of sales, which if you know your video game history, this might remind you of how Sega’s console division eventually died before deciding to stick with making games only. Might Nintendo follow the same path? Food for thought.

Rest in peace little Dreamcast, you were before your time. Power Stone salutes you.

The problem between the Playstation 4 (Let’s call it PS4 from here on out) and the Xbox One (XB1? Xbone? Yes, I like Xbone.) however is that the majority of the games they carry are available on the opposing platform, so choosing a system between the two isn’t as easy as it looks. Unless you buy consoles purely on color only, in which case PS4 all the way. The midnight black of the PS4 is so much more sophisticated than Onyx black of the Xbone.

In my humble opinion the main reasons you would choose one console over the other would be as follows:

1) Price

2) Power of the hardware

3) Console exclusive games

4) Midnight black vs Onyx black

5) All your online friends are choosing a console over the other one

6) Belief in the company

Let’s tackle each of these in turn and try and see which console is for you then, shall we?

If you are sticking to your price guns on this one, then the PS4 wins hands down. At a hundred dollars cheaper, that might make it a far easier decision for people to make, something Microsoft has to be afraid of. It’s interesting to me because a high price tag of $499 is probably something only hard core gamers will be willing to pay for at the console launch, however between the two systems it’s the PS4 that is probably more appealing to the gamer crowd. I don’t want to suggest Microsoft throws drunken parties where tossing darts blind and naked at a pricing chart were behind this decision, but I also don’t want to suggest it wasn’t the reason for this price point. One of the major problems consoles can face is not getting the hardware in enough homes, so in many cases companies take a hit on the hardware in order to make sure their software reaches as many places as possible (or if you’re Sony, you charge $599 for your Ps3 at launch and realize you’ve made a huge stupid mistake.)

So price wise, the PS4 hits that “Ehhh, you know what, I might pick this up on launch” vs Xbone which hits more of the “Ehhh, I think I will wait a couple of years and get this on discount. Or steal it from my cousin. Yeah. Probably steal it from my cousin.”

“But Wyatt” you ask breathlessly, “maybe the Xbone is priced higher because it has ALL OF THE POWER???”

Well, I hate to burst your bubble, but the consoles are both very similar in power, with the Playstation 4 probably taking the edge. Both have similar processing power, and the only real advantage the Xbone has over the PS4 is the addition of an HDMI “In” socket, which means the Xbone is a better idea if you plan on making it the central hub of your living room. Basically both consoles are well endowed, but in the end, it’s how you use it that counts, so if programmers don’t use it properly, then no one will be satisfied, and then you’ll get a divorce or break up with your significant other, and then the next thing you know, you have child support payments to make on the games you’re sharing custody with, you’ll be eating mac and cheese dry and out of the box, slowly warming up each individual piece of macaroni in your mouth until it’s soft enough to eat, and your life has gone down the drain.

Ok wow, that analogy really got away from me.

Basically both consoles are about equal in power, but if a game is programmed like garbage, shockingly it won’t perform that well. Which means the price point advantage goes to Sony, and the power point goes to Sony.

Price + Power : Sony

Console exclusive games

OK, so if you are a huge huge huge fan of a game, sometimes it doesn’t matter about price points or power. All you know is you have to play this game, so money be damned if you need to get your game on.

Ryse: Son of Rome (Looked awesome at E3 until you realize it’s a quick time event fest. If you like pressing a single button because the screen demands it of you, you will love this game.)

Playstation 4

Killzone Shadowfall

Drive Club (No idea what this is)

Knack (No idea what this is)

InFamous: Second Son

The Order 1886

Many independent games

Don’t Starve – Available on PC but is console exclusive

Outlast – Available on PC but is console exclusive

Final Fantasy XIV – Available on PC but is console exclusive (Remember when Final Fantasy used to be good?)

Xbox currently has more name brand exclusives, but unless you’re a HUGE fan of Gears of War and Halo (which admittedly some people are) there isn’t a huge reason to pick an Xbox over Ps4 purely on game exclusivity. Still, to each their own, so if there is a game on that list you just have to get, then that should make the console decision pretty easy for you. And let’s be honest, in the casual gaming crowd, Halo and Gears of War carry great weight, so that gives the edge to Microsoft.

In order to keep up with the grading system, I will say Xbox gets the edge right now due to the fact it has more publicly recognizable exclusives, which means that would attract more potential buyers.

Console Exclusives: Xbone

Midnight black vs Onyx black

I honestly don’t know how you as a gamer can seriously consider going with Xbone’s onyx black. Seriously, it’s amateur hour over there with that color choice. PS4 wins this one in a landslide.

Color Edge: Sony

My group of friends represented by the cast of the Expendables. I have no idea what the corpses represent. Probably Justen. Justen is a real jerk.

All your online friends are choosing a console over the other one

Well obviously this one is an easy category to cover. If you game all the time with buddies, you might just follow the crowd and head in their direction. Playing games online with random 13 year boys swearing at you and telling you they just did your mom last night might be fun in the short run, but in the long run, usually it’s far more entertaining to game with your buddies. My NHL 13 league which I love to death is on the Xbox 360 right now, which means my league will probably go Xbone, which means even if I want a PS4, I have a hard choice to make.

Friend Edge: I don’t know your friends, you have to answer this one. Don’t be lazy.

Belief in the company

This is an interesting category because this wasn’t such a big issue for the Xbox 360 vs Ps3 wars. The last time this flared up was when Xbox first came along with the first Xbox, the artist previously known as Xbox One. When Microsoft first showed up on the scene, nobody was really sure how much faith to have in them, as it was their first attempt at a console, and they were taking on the Playstation 2, which had already been a huge success and had already been on the market for a couple of years. It was tough to sink money into a new system that was joining the game that late in the battle.

With the Xbox 360 and a renewed marketing department, Microsoft made huge inroads into the North American market, and with the Ps3 coming out a year later and having a huge launch price point, the Ps3 sputtered in North American sales, allowing Microsoft to sink it’s teeth into a substantial gaming market.

With the Ps4 and the Xbox One rumored to have dueling release dates in November, we have for the first time since the original Xbox and Gamecube faced off with each other or the Playstation 3 and Nintendo Wii squaring off, two consoles coming out at the same time (unless you’re a fan of history, in which case you consider the Virtual Boy vs the original Playstation more of a true battle.)

This sets up an interesting scenario of the Xbox defending it’s North American market (they don’t appear to be attempting to soak up the Japanese market of Sony) against a renewed Sony effort. This leaves many gamers with a choice, do they trust Microsoft or Sony to meet their gaming needs?

Well from what we saw these past several weeks, it looks like Sony is gearing itself towards the gaming community, whereas Xbone looks like it is trying to get into your home as a multimedia tool.

Take for example the Xbone reveal:

Obviously this sets a heavy handed slant against the Xbox reveal, but it does have a point: The Xbone is seemingly being marketed as a central hub of your living room, with the games being an after thought. That isn’t to say that games won’t be important to the system, but the way Microsoft has presented it’s system so far, it definitely feels like they want you to view the Xbone as going hand in hand with your TV viewing habits, more so than being there for the gamer in your family.

Again, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing to many people. Some people love having high tech gadgets, and to them, coming home and saying “Xbox TV On” is finally bringing about the future that was promised to us in Back to the Future 2.

It was all going swimmingly for Marty and his Xbox One until he asked his date to remove her clothes and he was really confused why she didn’t comply. “Uhh, my Xbox does everything I ask, why don’t you?” stated Marty, thus beginning his long journey into understanding women.

Having the Kinect 2.0 being bundled into the Xbone will allow many people to live a life without remote controls and is one of those things you can show off to the ladies the next time they come over to watch a movie. The gamer in me however screams “POWER GLOVE, POWER GLOVE, POWER GLOOOOOVE” which is a warning that goes off anytime a cool sounding peripheral is marketed to me. Sluggish response time, not responding to my voice, or just not being in the mood to pantomime a baseball swing are all reasons why I would be wary of the Kinect. At the end of the day, give me a controller in my hand and a TV in front of me, and that’s all I really need to game. If that is not a concern for you, then maybe the Xbone is something you really want to invest in due to the multimedia appeal. Gamers might be put off by the fact that the actual gaming aspect of the Xbone has not been talked about a whole lot.

Another layer of the gaming culture of the two consoles is the way both sides are approaching the gaming community. The Xbone has made waves in the gaming community by bringing two ideas to the table:

Xbox One has restriction on used game sales and lending your games to friends

The Xbox One must be connected to the internet once every 24 hours if you wish to continue playing games on it.

(Imagine I inserted a picture of Big Brother laughing at you. Big Brother the government idea used in 1984 not Big Brother the reality show.)

These two issues have created a PR nightmare for the Xbox One, as many people see it as Microsoft lowering it’s pants and taking a sizable dump on the gaming community. Let’s take a look at this two issues a bit closer then.

Restrictions on used games:

At its best:

- Microsoft is creating an environment similar to the one Steam has created for PC users.

- You can download your games on any console (assuming you are logged in under your account) and play them.

- You can have up to 10 people in your family access your software library from any console, though you can’t play at the same time (the cynic in me feels this is just a convoluted system set up to make sure you don’t loan out your gamer tag to anyone else and in turn making it seem like a cool feature, but I will let the marketing department have their fun)

At its worst:

- It is big brother watching over you (“Kinect camera always on??” was a comment thrown about heavily in the gaming community. Nobody knows what to trust anymore)

- It is all a system set up to enforce Digital Rights Management (DRM)

- Allows them a stranglehold on setting the price on the used games.

- Limits you to lending your game to a buddy to one person, and once that person has it, they can never trade it again. And oh yeah, they have to have been on your friends list for the past 30 days.

The worry I have is that the reason Steam works is because of the sales. You know if you wait long enough, odds are you will come across the game you’ve been dying to play for an insanely good price, sometimes up to 75% off. Traditionally console games don’t drop that low on the used gamer market. You will see sales, but it’s not often you find that game you wanted to play last year on sale for $10 on a console. For this to succeed in the gamers mind, Microsoft would have to set up a system where they let you buy games and have Steam like sales, but again, the cynic in me thinks that won’t be their approach.

Regardless of your view on the secondary games market, the Xbone has set itself up in a very poor way optically, and that doesn’t look to change anytime soon. The “anti-gamer” stance is how they are currently being perceived, and they have not done well to change that. Yet.

In regards to lending your games to a buddy, the fact that you can do it once, and only once, seems, well, restrictive as hell.

The Xbox One must be connected to the internet once every 24 hours if you wish to continue playing games on it.

I hate this. Hate hate hate it. When a company wants to enforce a rule I usually want to know why they are doing it, and why I have to follow along. So far Microsoft has trotted out the usual song and dance companies like to pull when enforcing online always rules by saying “it will improve the experience ten fold, and that so and so was invented to be online always.”

Why does the Xbone have to be online, then? Well, Microsoft doesn’t know. Oh wait, except that it will take advantage of Cloud…..use synergy….leverage their resources…. basically it gets lost in a garbage bag full of buzz words. At the end of the day the Xbone will have to go online once every 24 hours for DRM, plain and simple. They want to battle pirates, and this is how they are choosing to do it.

Now, if they came out and said “We can’t afford to have people steal our crap anymore, and this is the only way we figure we can do it” then at least I would respect them for telling me like it is. However, this is how Microsoft approaches it:

Just to re-iterate:

“Fortunately we have a product for people who aren’t able to get some form of connectivity,” Mattrick said. “It’s called Xbox 360.”

Is smug prick a rating? Because if so, Mattricks takes this category and runs away with it.

Again, this is all about optics, and right now, Microsoft is coming off as very dismissive of the gaming community, whereas Sony, well, they’ve taken a different approach:

I want to give a raise to the marketing guy who came up with this commercial. You can almost hear Sony giggling in the background as it winds up to kick Microsoft in the nards. Well played Sony, well played.

Having to be online all the time is troublesome for people who have no access to the internet (people in the army game a lot in places with limited connectivity, this is a concern of theirs), people who have spotty internet, and people who go into a rage when “Network is down, sorry, you can’t play your game right now” which is something anyone who has played Diablo 3 will know all about.

Again, it is not necessarily a deal breaker for me by any means, but the way Microsoft has approached this, and they way they have presented it to us, it just leaves a foul taste in my mouth. This means at the end of the day, when the reason to choose one console over the other one is so slim, something like this approach could easily give the edge to Sony to many gamers who are having trouble deciding between the two companies.

Belief in the company: Edge to Sony (for me)

So which console should you choose? (Note: if you’ve read this entire article then a huge kudos to you and a free cookie for you if you ever run into me on the street)

At the end of the day, you have to choose which is more important to you. If you think the bad Microsoft PR is just a bunch of BS from reactionary gamers, and that the exclusive games and the utility of the Xbone to become a futuristic media centre of your front room, then you will probably go with the Xbox. I admit, coming home and flopping on the couch and just saying “TV on, Canucks game on, win Stanley Cup now” sounds amazing. (The Xbox One can make the Canucks win the Cup, right?)

As a gamer, though, I am leaning towards the Playstation 4. The lack of restrictions, the way they’ve approached their marketing, the lack of online always, there are just too many advantages to the PS4 right now. It just feels like the PS4 is better for gamers, even if it is just the marketing doing that (But hey, perception is reality as they say, and Microsoft has done themselves no favors in this regards.)

Alas, I have that damn NHL 13 league I want to continue playing with my Xbox friends, so I might end up being stuck with an Xbone. All I can hope is that the Xbox One doesn’t judge me when I eat pizza and pepsi after 9 pm. DON’T YOU DARE JUDGE ME XBONE!

*runs away crying*

Edit BONUS CONTENT

I realize by the comments that some people get offended in thinking I have a horse in this race, that I am a huge Sony fan boy with Sony posters at home, maybe a picture of Kazuo Hirai sensually eating a banana while lounging around a pool, while typing this post out on some hacked together app for my Sony Vista.

I don’t care which console wins. I could truly care less. My current main console is an Xbox 360. I enjoy it, I have no complaints. The only negative I have about the 360 were the 4 red ring of deaths I experienced early on in the consoles life. If both companies said nothing and just said “Buy our next console” I would have gone with Microsoft purely because I enjoyed the last one.

However, due to the fact it is such a tight race, sometimes poor communication is all it can take to sway me to one console over another. At the end of the day, all of the negative rumblings about Microsoft could end up meaning nothing, but their PR handling of it all has been very poor, which means given a tight race, I am liking Sony right now.

That being said, it is all about personal preference, right? So if you’re a huge fan of Microsoft, then stick with their console. Who cares what I think? Enjoy it! If you love the Kinect then yes, go with the Xbox One, I can see how that would be a draw for many people. The fantasy sports integration with your Xbox and TV? That sounds like a very cool feature, which while it won’t sell me on the console, I can see why if you add up all of these things (Kinect, TV integration) that you might be dying to get an Xbox One. There is nothing wrong with that.

The main negative about Microsoft is their communication has been poor. Any benefits from their always online or game management have either been lost in the shuffle of bad PR, or haven’t been clarified by Microsoft. We still aren’t clear on many things about the Xbox One, which leaves many people with no choice but to go with what they know, and in bad circumstances, start filling in the blanks with their own assumptions, which leads to bad PR for Microsoft.

So again, I don’t care about Sony or Microsoft. If Sony came out tomorrow with a “We require a Sony Executive to slap you in the face once every 7 hours to play your games” I would be the first to say “Well gee Sony, this doesn’t sound so hot.”

They need it to catch up after another packed and precious showing at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) show in L.A. last week.

There were no huge surprises out of the show but we learned …

]]>The videogame world is asleep.

They need it to catch up after another packed and precious showing at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) show in L.A. last week.

There were no huge surprises out of the show but we learned more detail about the new Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and they revealed loads of previews of games for those systems as well as for the Nintendo Wii U.

A huge variance of opinion emanated from E3, some thought the Xbox One exclusives stole the show, others thought the issues of price and used game ownership gave the PS4 the win.

The key points:

PlayStation 4 will be $100 cheaper than Xbox One. The standard package will be $399 for PS4 and $500 for Xbox One, though there is talk that various bundles and prices will vary for the Xbox. Right now, they’re saying it comes standard with Kinect and that’s what you’re paying extra for.

Also the need to have the Xbox One hooked up to the internet means you’re going to need some form of membership with Xbox Live. The other big issue is ownership of the rights to a game and the right to re-sell. PlayStation games are unrestricted, but the idea that you have to be connected to the internet to play ANY Xbox One game, and therefore are restricted from reselling content, made many gamers look at the show and decide that the PlayStation 4 is a more attractive option come the release this holiday season.

Nintendo also pumped up the future of the Wii U, which was released last year, by talking about the games. The new consoles are heavily linked to being “entertainment” machines that through the internet connection and “apps” you can watch TV and movies, connect through social media, share thoughts, pictures, video and game moments through social media. Nintendo maintained the key thing about a console is the games and they showed off many Nintendo classics.

We already knew about the new consoles headed into E3 though, so what is all the fuss about? It’s the games.

Ryse, an Xbox One exclusive that’s somewhat medieval in tone, described by many as being like God of War.

Dead Rising 3 Another Xbox One game that goes back to an already-successful zombie-shooting world.

Watch Dogs, for PS4, Xbox One and Wii U, an open-world action adventure game where you’re a sort of freedom fighter trying to do the right thing in a corrupt world.

Titanfall, an Xbox exclusive, not just for XBOne, but also for 360, giant mech-fighting in destructible environments.

Mario Kart 8, Wii U, Nintendo always faces criticism for doing the same franchises over and over again. But it’s hard to go wrong with Mario Kart, every version has been better than the one before taking advantage of the new technology, now this one has 12 player multiplayer.

Killzone: Shadowfall, PlayStation 4, every new console has to have a classic shooter, and Shadowfall is the one for PS4, as we are 50 years beyond the end of KillZone 3 and the heroes are stuck in a world sharing a hostile planet with the Hellghast.

The Crew for PS4 and Xbox One, street racing taking advantage of the ultra-fast frame rate of the new machines.

The Division for Xbox One and PlayStation 4, a Tom Clancy new franchise done by Ubisoft, a virus outbreak unleashes havoc on the world, and a specialized team has to save the world.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, for Xbox One and PlayStation 4, an open world, RPG featuring character-driven dark fantasy in a completely non-linear setting.

Destiny, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Playstation 3, PlayStation 4, first-person shooter, a new franchise that’s the child of the development studio that made Halo.

Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze, Wii U, high-def hijinx with co-op play that has DK back with Diddy.

Pikmin 3, Wii U, long awaited, it’s finished and ready for release in August, PIkmin one of the most underrated games of all time.

Infamous: Second Son, Xbox One, electrically charged hero takes on a city full of thugs, using the power of power.

The Wondeful 101, Wii U, giant aliens invade earth and a team has to save the world.

FIFA 14, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Wii U, EA fielded a strong lineup including NHL which also drew rave reviews, but the speed and graphics of the new FIFA on new consoles left jaws slack.

For those who are still debating which system might be right for them here’s a list of the notable exclusives that were popped out at E3:

]]>http://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/06/14/videogames-of-the-electronic-entertainment-expo-e3/feed/0paulchapmanprovinceMicrosoft at E3 2013http://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/06/10/microsoft-at-e3-2013/
http://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/06/10/microsoft-at-e3-2013/#commentsMon, 10 Jun 2013 19:37:10 +0000http://blogs.theprovince.com/?p=120058E3 is here, which means video game companies trot out their products, tell you why you should buy them, then try and distract you with boobs when you ask too many questions.

“So how can you charge full price for …

]]>E3 is here, which means video game companies trot out their products, tell you why you should buy them, then try and distract you with boobs when you ask too many questions.

“So how can you charge full price for this game when it is only two hours long-….oh look, boobies!”

Yes, E3 is truly the pinnacle of the video game world. Games, boobs and body odor (though to be fair, things at E3 have gotten far more corporate lately, so it probably smells a lot more like Axe Effect). And while it’s easy to be cautious about believing everything the video game industry promises you at E3, it is still fun to see the potential gaming glory that might be just over the horizon.

Microsoft started off the event today (Sony will take the stage later today) so in case you missed their presentation, here are the highlights:

Microsoft Highlights:

Metal Gear Solid 5

- Konami is the first name that hits the screen…and it fades away to two dudes riding a horse. Then the “Kojima” name starts up. I begin to cry a little bit. Oh how I love me some Metal Gear Solid.

- Random chick wailing some sort of Enya like song, if ever you needed a sign that this was a Metal Gear Solid game, that would be it.

- Gameplay looks a bit like Red Dead Revolver. Seriously, it’s showing Snake riding around on a horse. I am expecting him to go hunt some buzzards in the sky for an achievement at any moment now…

- Metal Gear now comes with 110% more stealth! And by that, they mean you can duck down on one side of your horse and the enemy is none the wiser.

- Open world concept with real time weather. I think you can hide in a dust storm to use it as cover, which is pretty neat. I am hoping the Kinect One sensors will try to choke you to death if you stay hidden in the dust too long, in an attempt to bring reality that much closer to your gaming experience. “Kinect: We Could Kill You If We Wanted To.”

- Game showed a variety of cast members. Revolver Ocelot is back! Random sniper chick with huge jugs named “Quiet”, also has massive bags under her eyes. She really needs to get some sleep. God bless Metal Gear characters.

- Showed a bunch of children holding AK47’s so you know this game is going to be going back to the well of dark war themes. All they need now are Africans holding diamonds.

- African kids holding diamonds, yup, there it is. Pretty much any dark, war torn theme will be present in this game.

- Snake has a gross little ponytail. That might have been the worst part of the trailer.

“If I don’t smile once every three minutes, all of the Xbox One’s stops working”

Enter the Mattricks

- Don Mattricks still creeps me out. Though I will give him the fact he is very polished. I bet he’s so good he actually believes half of the stuff he says. He comes out next to introduce Microsoft.

- New Xbox 360 is smaller, sleeker, and quieter. That is the press release they use for EVERY release of a new Xbox 360. “So quiet it could kill you in your sleep!”

- New 4GB Xbox 360 is $199, 250GB Xbox 360 is $299. Yay?

- Xbox Gold membership carries over to Xbox One. I assumed it did anyways, which was probably very stupid of me.

- Starting July 1st to the release of the Xbox One, Gold Members get two free Xbox 360 games per month. No word on complete list of free games, but two examples given were Assassins Creed 2 and Halo 3. Of course I assume you won’t own these games, nor will you be able to play them. In fact, you will only be able to look at them indirectly, and once every 30 minutes you can waft their smell in your general direction, but still, they’re free!

- “Literally hundreds of new games” coming to Xbox. I will count these games to make sure they used “literally” properly. Splinter Cell, Final Fantasy, Batman Arkham Origins, Grand Theft Auto 5 are some of the games you can expect to see on the Xbox 360.

- Three new titles specifically coming out to Xbox 360 were listed:

- World of Tanks (Large PC user base) is a free to play game from the PC world. Now you can pay to play it on Xbox? Yay?

- Dude presenting it used to be Cold War spy, I’m convinced of this. Xbox apparently thinks this is amazing. I do not. I feel like they needed to prove they will still be supporting the Xbox 360 so they trotted this one out. Who knows though, maybe there are a crapload of tank enthusiast (tanthusiasts?) who are totally stoked about this.

- Max the Curse of Brotherhood is some cartoon game coming out. Another platform Indie game, which seems to be your best shot at having your Indie game go huge. “We have $500, what should we do?” “Let’s make a platform game.”

For the record I am glad platform games are having a small revival.

- Dark Souls 2 is another game coming out for the Xbox 360. Some people swear by the Dark Souls/Demon Souls series. They enjoy the fact it is a hard hard game to master. I played it and found it tedious and drab. To each their own. If you should feel like dying multiple times and basically re-enacting Boromir’s death scene in Lord of the Rings a thousand times over, this game might be the one for you.

Xbox One News

- A game called Ryse, Son of Rome is a new IP of Microsoft. Surprisingly its about Rome invading something. Imagine beach of Normandy invasion, except with Roman soliders.

- This is seriously Saving Private Ryan right now, except arrows instead of bullets. Hell, the main character even has a Tom Hanks moment of being out of it on beach and hearing nothing but a high pitched whine after an explosion goes off near him.

- Looks like a fun, hack and slash type of game. Think God of War, except no over the top god powers and no quick time events-

- Ah crap, quick time events. Anytime you want to finish an enemy off you have to hit the right button to kill someone. Think of it like Rockband, but instead of hitting the right chords to play a song correctly, you hit buttons to sever a head properly.

- At one point you have to rally your troops and get them into a shield formation. Arrows come in, shields go up. March forward when arrows are gone. Looks neat, though the quicktime events is a huge letdown for me. Hit X right now if you wish to get rid of quicktime events! Too slow!

- ULTRA COMBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Killer Instinct is making a return.

- It sounds like the same announcer from last Killer Instinct. He even screamed Ultra Combo. Oh man. Life is good. This game could be the worlds biggest pile of garbage, and I would still play it so I could hear the announcer scream “Ultra Comboooooooo” while I am using Saberwulf.

- Sunset Overdrive, from the makers of Ratchet and Clank, is being shown.

- No cat like creature and no robot, but looks like random weird weapons, an Insomniac Games forte, will be in it. A gun that shoots records is proudly shown off.

- Apparently the worlds content can change according to what the community wants and/or makes, which means you know there will be a bunch of penis shaped buildings.

- Xbox is bringing out a Mclaren racing car on stage to show off Forza. Apparently Forza will take stats on how you drive and then your Driver avatar (“Driveatar”. Yes, this is their term) can compete against others online and should your “Driveatar” win, you can even get points for it. One day I assume they hope to have you not play the games at all, instead you will simply come home and find out you finished a game while you were out.

- Minecraft is coming to the Xbox One. I hope they squeeze in two more pixels to really use the full power of the One.

- Quantum Break is shown again, and once again I have no idea what this game does. They showed it off at the Xbox One reveal and all I know is you can crash a ship or something? I assume my Driveatar will finish it for me and let me know how it went.

- The hopes are that it will infuse a TV show and a game together. I don’t know what’s going on.

- Xbox went over their SmartGlass app, which basically allows you to use mobile devices, tablets, etc, to help interact with games. For instance you can set up multiplayer matches in Call of Duty while you’re currently playing in singe player. You can also use it to create levels and edit levels in certain games. Multi-tasking in games to set up playing more games, I bet George Orwell never saw this coming.

- Remember those “epic moments’ they talked about at the Xbox One reveal? Those moments in games when you’re kicking ass but nobody is around to see it? Well Xbox One has an Upload Studio which allows you to edit and upload clips and highlights for everyone to see. This is neat because honestly, sometimes you do need to share that time you rag dolled your guy out of your car in Grand Theft auto and he bounced off 17 cars.

- Also, Xbox has integrated Twitch into it’s Upload Studio, which means you can finally live broadcast that WWE 13 created wrestler Breaking Bad match for the Blue Meth Title. Or you can broadcast your NHL GM Connected Mode playoff games, which is actually a pretty awesome idea.

- Xbox points will be gone! They will instead use actually money amounts. No word on what I can do with my 40 MS points I currently have. I think that’s enough to buy an Xbox One hat for my avatar.

- Capcom is pumping Xbox One’s tires as they talk about the Xbox One being the only console that could handle open world zombie games.

- Dead Rising 3 is up now, and it looks insane. This now marks the 276th zombie game made in the last two years I believe.

-Weapon customization is back. Sledge Hammer + Circuler Saw? Add in some duct tape and baby you’ve got a stew going! Or a weapon that you can toss and cleave an enemy in half.

- Using your SmartGlass ap you can pick up your phone and call in an air strike. While this is cool that I am calling in an air strike on my phone, I feel like I could have just hit the “B” button on my controller instead.

- Witcher 3 is coming to Xbox One. The Witcher series is that RPG series that many people haven’t played but is apparently one of the best ever. I currently own Witcher one and two on Steam and have yet to play them. However, when I do play them, I expect to be BLOWN AWAY.

- Battlefield 4. Shoot things. Ride tanks. Shoot more things. They showed this for like 30 minutes, I swear. Everyone knows what Battlefield 4 and Call of Duty are, I don’t even know why they advertise them. Just put up the game title, a giant gun, and you’re good to go, people will buy it.

- Below is shown, which is an attempt for Microsoft to assure people they don’t hate Indie developers. The game looks like…. I don’t know. You’re in a cave at one point? Did I just beat the game? Did I solve it? I’ll let my Driveatar tell me I guess.

- Microsoft is investing in five new studios, one of which is Vancouver’s own Black Tusk Studios. Which means EA will attempt to buy them in a year before shutting them down a few months later. Circle of life.

- Halo is coming to Xbox One. Shocking. No gameplay shown but one can assume it’s the same gameplay it’s been every single year. Oh except this time Master Chief gets to wear a potato sack over his armor. I’m not kidding.

“I love the smell of potatoes in the morning…”

Price Point:

- They finally reveal the price and it is….$499. This price is too high. This price will not make people happy. I can’t wait to see if Sony matches or comes in under.

Honestly, I think $399 was their sweet spot, but I guess they feel they can still make some good money at $499. I would suggest to everyone to wait a year before buying an Xbox One, as the price will probably drop, and launch games are always garbage for the most part.

Plus newly minted Xbox consoles have a tendency to explode and have meltdowns. “I don’t understand, the Cheetoh transistors we used should have worked…”

- In an attempt to distract you from the price point, they show one more game from the Call of Duty makers Inifinty Ward called Titanfall. Oddly enough, it’s another first person shooter. Can’t have enough of those! They should have just called this Call of Duty: Now with Giant Robots.

Closing Thoughts:

- I loved the Upload Studio of the Xbox, as I am huge on making videos and showing off highlights.

- I like the fact they are trying to integrate apps so you can interact with your games on your phone. As I said earlier, right now it’s primitive in that using your phone to call in an air strike seems like forced integration at the best of times, but I feel game designers can probably find a ton of ways to make it more intuitive and more exciting.

- They really focused on the games at this event, the Kinect was not even mentioned (“Away bad PR, AWAY!”), nor was the world “television” mentioned, so you know their marketing guys saw the backlash of the Xbox One reveal and brought their A game today.

- Ryse looks good, as did Dead Rising 3. Dead Rising 3 is a good exclusive to have, but I don’t think it’s one that would sell a system like a Metal Gear franchise would (but good on Xbox for getting MGS 5 on their system too.)

Overall I came away neither happy nor sad. I am intrigued by some of the games, but I am not that excited about any of it. I don’t know if this is a general malaise on my part, or if it is just my general disinterest in the Microsoft showing at play. I will check in on the Sony event and maybe that will make it easier for me to weigh in!

]]>http://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/06/10/microsoft-at-e3-2013/feed/0xboxonesplashkidr0lle3-booth-babesDonMattrickstewhalo-xbox-one-640x358Double Dog Dare NES Challenge: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtleshttp://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/05/24/double-dog-dare-nes-challenge-teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles/
http://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/05/24/double-dog-dare-nes-challenge-teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles/#commentsFri, 24 May 2013 15:34:10 +0000http://blogs.theprovince.com/?p=118561One of the joys of being a long time gamer is remembering the horrifying games that would regularly come out for the Nintendo. This was before the days of quality assurance, so you would come across all kinds of odd …]]>One of the joys of being a long time gamer is remembering the horrifying games that would regularly come out for the Nintendo. This was before the days of quality assurance, so you would come across all kinds of odd games that probably should never have existed. They were either odd due to content, or they were odd because they were so impossibly hard. I am sure many people from the Nintendo days can remember screaming and yelling and possibly throwing their controller over stupid games. I am also pretty sure Terminator 2 was written after attempting to beat Contra without using the cheat code. “Well, the machines will surely rise up against us, there is no beating this game.”

Though let us never forget Atari, which also had its share of horrifying games (looking at you ET!)

That’s a man in a trench coat chasing after ET. Yep. Let the optics of that one sink in.

Which brings me to Double Dog Dare NES Challenge day. Sometimes it’s fun to look back at a game, whether it be because it was so hard, or whether it was because the game made zero sense to you. Did you know Garfield had a Nintendo game? The premise was you had to save Odie. To do this you had to dodge spiders, frogs, and other assorted animals. The game ended with a giant battle against a cat with an eye patch throwing knives at you. Why did this happen? I have no idea. But it did. This was the glory days of “What the **** am I watching” Nintendo games.

And the knife is being thrown at the groin, to boot. Nice.

Yes, there truly were some amazing gems in the NES era. Which is why I want to play through them, to either remember them fondly, or to punch my wall in fury, as I remember how bad they were.

I opened my challenge to twitter to ask what game I should attempt first, and the favorite was none other than Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. (GOD DAMN YOU DAM LEVEL.)

Yes, this is a game I know very well, and I grew up hating. I also grew up hating myself because I could never stop playing it, I just wanted to beat it so bad. This is a game that should probably burn in the deepest depths of hell, but since you challenged me, I shall attempt to play it. You guys suck. No, seriously. You suck. My gaming skills have eroded due to the new generation of games hand feeding me through games, so to just take on TMNT like this? The jump in difficulty is immense. That’s just cruel. Anyways.

Quick rules:

I will either do a 25 Cent Challenge or an Endurance Time Trial for the NES Challenges.

25 Cent Challenge: One time play through, no saves, nothing, I play until I die, and that’s it. This puts pressure on me to perform (“this normally never happens, I swear!”)

Endurance Time Trial: I have to finish the game, no matter how long it takes. I can use saves, it doesn’t matter, all that matters is that I finish the game. This is the more cruel option.

I will be doing the 25 cent challenge for TMNT since I don’t feel like punching my computer.

Warning: I realized I swear when I play games, so this video will have cursing. I will clean it up for the next video, my apologies.

]]>http://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/05/24/double-dog-dare-nes-challenge-teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles/feed/0Teenage_Mutant_Ninja_Turtles_cartkidr0lletgarfieldNew Xbox revealed today, three xbox 360s Red Ring of Death in honor of ithttp://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/05/21/new-xbox-revealed-xbox-one/
http://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/05/21/new-xbox-revealed-xbox-one/#commentsTue, 21 May 2013 19:11:36 +0000http://blogs.theprovince.com/?p=118147For the record, I am not a huge “XBOX IS MY JAM!” or “Ps3 for life, bro!” kind of guy. I went with an Xbox 360 last time, but I don’t have any particular loyalty to either system. The days …]]>For the record, I am not a huge “XBOX IS MY JAM!” or “Ps3 for life, bro!” kind of guy. I went with an Xbox 360 last time, but I don’t have any particular loyalty to either system. The days of exclusive games defining a system are not as impactful as they used to be (Final Fantasy series sold me on Super Nintendo), as most games are available on Ps3 or Xbox, and the ones that aren’t, I would argue are not worth getting in a fight over. Hell, even Metal Gear games are now out on the Xbox, the odds are if you want a game, eventually it ends up on the other system anyways.

Unless of course Gears of War is the be all end all game for you, and nothing else compares, so I should just shut my stupid face up about it. In that case, “Xbox 4 life, bro!”

Anyways, I just wanted to get that out of the way, just in case someone tried accusing me of being on Team Xbox or Team Sony.

So the new Xbox had their big reveal today, which means get your pom poms out because there was a lot of cheerleading going on over at Microsoft. These events have a very “infomercial” feel to them, as they like to point out all the great things their products do, half of which you don’t even know why they do them. “This will chop your nuts, drive your car, AND wash your hair at 3:30 am in the morning. It is perhaps the greatest rechargeable battery of all time.” Usually you have to sift through several layers of corporate buzz words to find actual content, so here is some of the more useful information that was released today:

– They are pimping it out as an “All in one system”

– Because of this, they are calling the new system “Xbox-One”. Because it does everything. So you only need one thing. Get it? Good. Because that probably cost $10 million for a group think tank to come up with.

– They demoed the voice command functionality of the Xbox One. It can be used to flip through different TV inputs, like music, TV, games, etc. Guy on stage said “Xbox watch TV” and it went to TV. This makes that age old battle of “Man vs Remote” a distant memory, which is kind of bad, because sometimes that’s the only exercise you get in a day, crawling under the couch looking for the remote.

– Xbox has Skype functionality. Because nothing says awesome like having a 13 year old trash talking you online VIA VIDEO.

– Fantasy tracking your players WHILE you’re watching sports in Xbox Snap Mode. Simply say “Xbox, show fantasy” and your fantasy teams will show up on right side of screen. This one was one of the highlights of the reveal for me, as it is a neat idea to be watching TV and then snapping your fantasy team on the screen and looking up stats while the game is going on. My question is which sports will this work on (hockey) and will it just be for ESPN based fantasy teams, or can you get other pools like Yahoo into the mix.

– New Kinect sensor will come with every Xbox One. I am not a fan of the Kinect and would never pay for it, so I guess including it in the system is a good thing for people like me. I know Xbox has a huge boner over their Kinect system, but I still find it to be very gimmicky. It’s like the Power Glove, except not as cool.

– New Kinect sensor sees in 1080p and can supposedly recognize tiny movements. You can tie your shoe, punch the wall in anger, or steal your cousins wallet, and the Xbox will know about it. IT WILL KNOW ABOUT EVERYTHING Including what you do in your bed at night.

Reading. It will know you’re reading at night in your bed. And it will be very angry at you for not playing video games instead.

I assume this is the part where John Connor sends a Terminator back in time to save his mother.

– New Xbox controller looks shockingly like the old controller:

However Microsoft ensures that there are “40 technical and design innovations”. One of which I hope is the ability to withstand being thrown against the wall after you lose in a shootout in NHL 13.

– Dedicated game DVR will let you record, edit, and share footage from games. This is a pretty awesome feature because if there is one thing gamers all share in common, it’s those moments where something so messed up happens in a game that you want to share it with other people. You look around the room going “Did you just see that??” and nobody is there to witness that amazing moment of gameplay. This is a very sad time for gamers. Now, with the new DVR, you can record these moments and upload them to your Xbox Cloud. Then people can log on and leave comments like “why would you record that? dum ass.”

But at least someone will have seen it, and that is all that matters sometimes.

– EA Sports developing four games for Xbox One: Madden, FIFA, NBA Live, UFC. No mention of hockey, which gave me a sad.

– All will be powered by new EA Sports “Ignite” engine. I have no idea what the “Ignite” engine is, but it’s probably along the lines of that latest shampoos “scalp refreshing dynamic technology crystal formula”, ie it means nothing, it’s just a fancy name. They promised better visuals and better AI, which yes, I would expect from a new game. So basically the EA “Ignite” engine is the EA “We’re making newer games” Engine.

But hey, it has a cool logo!

– Forza will be launch game. I am not a huge racing guy, so I won’t lie and pretend to be stoked about this. They showed a trailer of the game, but a trailer means nothing. Wait for E3 if you want any actual insight on it.

– Quantum Break from Remedy studios (Max Payne bullet time creators!) was a game that was announced…. It showed a live action movie scene in which a girl is talking to her family, then it flipped to in game footage of a ship crashing into a bridge, then time reversing and the ship not crashing into the bridge. Then it showed in game footage off a dude getting shot. And that was it.

I don’t know if this is some new age Dragon Lair or what, but apparently it’s trying to blend TV and gaming together into one sexy key party situation.

It might fail as a terrible gimmick, but I’ll tell you one thing, if at one point in my life I get to order Jack Bauer to torture someone in a live action scene from inside my video game, and he does it, I will consider this new gameplay a smashing success.

– Microsoft Game Studios plans to release more than 15 games in the first year of Xbox One, eight of which are brand new franchises. Again, E3 will tell us more more about this.

– Sounds like TV on Xbox One will spy on you much like the music software industry does by guessing your viewing habits and trying to suggest things you’ll like. Netflix already does this, so it will be along those lines. This is all fine and dandy, but they need to have some sort of filter set up to catch it when someone else is using your account, and all of a sudden it’s telling you “Based on the fact you recently watched Mermaids and Face/Off, we recommend you seek counselling.”

– Remember the Super Mario Brothers TV show?

Halo will soon be making the same leap. A Live-action TV show directed by Steven Spielberg has been confirmed. Yay?

– Xbox partnership with NFL confirmed. We’re being told that will transform not only your viewing experience, but also the sport itself. Which basically means “We have no idea what we’re doing, but we’re pretty sure NFL + Xbox has to = money somehow, so we’ll figure it out as we go along.”

– They then showed a trailer for Call of Duty: Ghosts , which is a brand new game, story, narrative, all built for the Xbox One. Let’s not lie, though, it’s Call of Duty. You’ll be travelling the world shooting people and at one point some civilians will die in an awful way. It’s science.

Of course, outside of the pom pom waving, two interesting things were found out:

– It was revealed that the rumor of the Xbox One requiring a constant connection was not true. This is very good because requiring a constant internet connection to play a game on your xbox is incredibly stupid and short sighted. Which means Xbox will find a way to work it in eventually, just in a sneakier way.

– Wired also found out that lending games to your buddies might not work anymore. You finish that copy of Red Dead Redemption 2 and want to let your friend try it? TOO BAD. They have to pay a fee. This is huge news, but I bet Sony follows suit. The gaming companies for the most part HATE the second hand gaming industry, so this move isn’t that shocking. Get ready for another round of DRM vs The Consumer.

And that was it. Overall, I was very tepid about the entire reveal. I understand that next generation consoles are scared of the mobile market chipping away at their market. As a result, they are trying to make their consoles incorporate into peoples lives as much as smart phones currently do. They are doing this by adding every social media app known to man to the Xbox in the hopes that the console becomes a part of a persons living room, much in the way a common TV does. They are even marketing it as an entertainment console, and not just a gaming console. I just wish they would focus more on the games, and less on the social media aps. While I found half of the stuff they revealed to be “neat”, I did not find much of it necessary. Skyping my buddy to trash talk his weeks fantasy choice? Sure, that’s cool in theory, but in reality I will probably be too busy playing my game of NHL to want to call up my friend to drop some truth on him. “That’s why you don’t dress Toews on morning games, bitch!”

Of course, I shouldn’t be too shocked, as the gaming industry has always wanted to be viewed this way. NES was called the Nintendo Entertainment System with the exact same idea in mind, making the Nintendo a central focus of a living room. They just laughably had no way of making that a reality. Today’s console? Well, that is actually feasible.

Stay tuned for E3 in the next couple of weeks, as that will be far more revealing about the games themselves, which to me, is the most important thing. I will update you on that as we get closer!

]]>http://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/05/21/new-xbox-revealed-xbox-one/feed/2xboxkidr0llmicrosoft-xbox-one-4834_610x407ignitemarioBoom, Headshot! Borderlands 2 Steam Salehttp://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/05/16/boom-headshot-borderlands-2-steam-sale/
http://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/05/16/boom-headshot-borderlands-2-steam-sale/#commentsFri, 17 May 2013 06:24:05 +0000http://blogs.theprovince.com/?p=117955Do you know what Steam is? If not, let me quickly tell you. Steam is a software that allows you to buy games digitally and download them straight to your computer. Think of it like iTunes for video games, …]]>Do you know what Steam is? If not, let me quickly tell you. Steam is a software that allows you to buy games digitally and download them straight to your computer. Think of it like iTunes for video games, except it doesn’t make you want to punch yourself in the face all the time. (Note: It will still make you want to punch yourself in the face on occasion. Just not as much as iTunes. Just to be clear.)

The benefits of Steam are three:

1: Everything is digital which means you no longer have to line up at midnight for games, nor do you have to carry the boxes of the games around and keep them in your room as some sort of messed up shrine to hating the environment. Seriously, PC games used to come in the worlds biggest boxes for no apparent reason. I assume it became a contest between gaming companies to see whose was bigger.

“Pfft, 13 inches eh? Mine’s 18. AROUND.”

Seriously take a look at the old school boxes:

It’s at once both an amazing sight, and a terrifying one, for old school gamers. I see this and go “awww, I used to have that” and then I go “awww, why did I have that?” Nothing got the chicks excited more than showing them my fat stack?

2) You can install Steam on other computers, load up Steam, and play your game on that computer. It makes putting games on computers super easy, and it takes away the “Please insert Disc 2″ game, where you put in Disc 2 and you wonder how long before you can click “Next”. You always click too early….

Be aware, however, that some gaming companies are a bunch of dicks, and they have put DRM on their games. What is DRM you ask? Digital Rights Management is the correct answer, and what it means is that companies can limit how many times you install a game. That’s right, they are basically saying “Hey, enjoy our game, but don’t enjoy it TOO much, because you CAN’T. We won’t let you. Because we’re jerks.”

It’s like if you dated the local preachers daughter and were told you could only have relations with her three times. Sure, it might make those three times super special, but you’re probably not going to invest in the relationship all that much due to the fact there are several other girls in town who won’t restrict you.

I’ve never seen Foot Loose, but I am positive it must have been about video game DRM. Also, Kevin Bacon from the 80‘s always sells. It’s called the ABB of blogging. Always Be Baconing.

3) STEAM SALES.

This is by far the best part about Steam. Can you get games through illegal means? Of course you can, I’d be stupid to say some of you aren’t doing that. But should you want to buy a game because you believe in the developer, or because you want to legally own the game and not have the guilt of having stolen from a company, Steam is the place to be if you want to legally buy the game.

They have sales all the time. Every week there is a sale on Steam. They also have major sales at Christmas and in the summer. This is where you can find gems of games for insanely cheap prices. Steam sales have become such a staple that it is almost stupid to buy a game at full price, unless you HAVE to play it right away. Odds are that game will be on sale at some point for a really low price point.

ABB at work. Bacon is looking down on people who don’t have Steam. He is DISGUSTED with you.

With that being said, Borderlands 2 is on sale until Monday, May 20th, at the low price of $13.59. Regular price, $39.99. Why should you buy this you ask? Well, let’s stick with the rule of three.

Three reasons you should buy Borderlands 2:

1) It’s awesome. Assuming you like first person shooters that is. Basically the premise is there is a crazy guy who wants you dead, and you don’t want to be dead, so you have to try and not be dead, while trying to make the other guy dead. You do this by advancing through the world, killing bad guys, collecting loot, helping locals you meet along your way, and generally having a fun time. The writing in the game is very well done (witty as hell, the storyline is meh, but the banter in the game is top notch), and the action is solid FPS action.

2) Co-op! Playing with friends is awesome, as you all get to wander around, shooting bugs and bad guys, and collecting loot. Nothing is more fun than screaming at your buddy to have your back as you’re surrounded by angry ape like creatures, only to realize your friend is heating up a burrito and not at his keyboard.

3) LOOT! LOOT! LOOT! The best part of the game is by far the loot. If you like hunting for treasures, and looking through a bunch of weapons, trying to optimize the most amount of damage you can do, then this game is for you. If you’ve ever played Diablo 1 or 2(screw you Diablo 3!), then think of this as a first person version of it. Minus the swords, and instead of them, guns. Tons and tons of guns. So many variety of guns.

For $13.59, if you like being a loot whore and if you like first person shooters, then this is almost a must buy at this price.

]]>http://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/03/11/canada-wide-recall-for-angry-bird-pyjamas/feed/0rolfsen5-year-old boy racks up $2500 iPad app bill in under 15 minuteshttp://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/03/05/5-year-old-boy-racks-up-2500-ipad-app-bill-in-under-15-minutes/
http://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/03/05/5-year-old-boy-racks-up-2500-ipad-app-bill-in-under-15-minutes/#commentsWed, 06 Mar 2013 00:50:52 +0000http://blogs.theprovince.com/?p=110404A 5-year-old British boy was given the password to his family’s iPad because he wanted to play the game Zombies vs Ninjas.

Once he started playing, he quickly began purchasing add-on weapons from the app store, some costing as much …

]]>A 5-year-old British boy was given the password to his family’s iPad because he wanted to play the game Zombies vs Ninjas.

Once he started playing, he quickly began purchasing add-on weapons from the app store, some costing as much as $100.

]]>http://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/03/05/5-year-old-boy-racks-up-2500-ipad-app-bill-in-under-15-minutes/feed/0rolfsenThe hard core fan’s guide to getting back at the NHLhttp://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/01/07/a-hard-core-fans-guide-to-getting-back-at-the-nhl/
http://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/01/07/a-hard-core-fans-guide-to-getting-back-at-the-nhl/#commentsMon, 07 Jan 2013 17:02:14 +0000http://blogs.theprovince.com/?p=102344Since the beginning of the lockout I’ve been thinking about and all-out, year long boycott of the NHL once the CBA dispute was resolved. Turns out I’m full of crap.

The euphoria of an NHL return has left me a …

]]>Since the beginning of the lockout I’ve been thinking about and all-out, year long boycott of the NHL once the CBA dispute was resolved. Turns out I’m full of crap.

The euphoria of an NHL return has left me a brainless Bettman loving lap dog.

And that irks me. I want to tell the NHL to screw off, but I just can’t bring myself to boycott.

The NHL knows this. They know the hardcore fan is coming back and they know that they have the most loyal group of hardcore fans in professional sports. And that’s part of the reason they think they can get away with lockouts every seven years.

Yes, the NHL will get its comeuppance from casual fans. It’s the casual fans who will turn off the TV and stop buying tickets, because they’re really not that fussed over the loss of the NHL. But I still feel the hard core fans should give the NHL some payback.

The NHL needs to get the message loud and clear: that yes, we hardcore fans will come back, but it won’t be without a price. We may not be able to stop watching, you’ve got us there – but there are other ways.

The strategy I’m thinking of reminds me of the movie projectionists lokckout in Vancouver a few years back. During the first weeks, the locked out employees asked people not to attend movies. That didn’t work very well. Realizing this, the projectionists acted quickly and asked movie goers to stop buying anything from concession stands. This strategy had more success.

Small cuts here and there, by a large group of committed, angry fans, could have an extraordinary affect on the NHL’s bottom line.

With that in mind, here are my short knife in the dark strategies for hitting the NHL where it hurts – little by little, in the pocketbook.

*Boycott game one of the coming season. Imagine 15 empty NHL arenas on opening night. Imagine TV ratings of 0.0. That would send a visceral, lasting message.

*Cut your live NHL consumption in half. If you were going to go to two games this year, go to one. Or, better yet, don’t go to any games this season. 50 inch HDTV’s are pretty amazing. So are bars.

*When you do attend games, don’t buy food.

I was going to say beer, but that’s just ridiculous (and hey, beers are only nine bucks apiece anyways, so, no biggie).

*Don’t buy merchandise for the entire calendar year. No jersey’s, no scarves, no Canucks brand peanut butter, nothing. Let’s face it, you’ve probably already got enough Canucks junk anyways. I almost bought a pair of Canucks mittens at Shoppers the other day, but I resisted, and guess what? I am no more or less happy because of that decision. This one’s obvious, it’s not much of a sacrifice, and it has major consequences on NHL revenue.

*Don’t buy NHL Centre Ice. It should be free, but because of its complicated structure, illustrated here, it won’t be. For one half year, as an apology, the NHL should find a way to give it away for free, but they won’t.

*Phone or email a major NHL sponsor or NHL network sponsor and tell them you won’t be buying their product for an entire year. Sorry John Garrett, no delicious and cheesy Kraft Dinner for me. If every NHL fan did this and followed through, there would be no more lockouts, forever. (This advice inapplicable for The Province advertisers).

*Take up a new sport. Waking up at 6 a.m. on Saturdays for EPL soccer is my new thing. I wouldn’t have started doing this had the NHL been going on. Now, if there is another lockout, or the NHL irks me in some unforeseen way, my dependency on the NHL is slightly lessened by my newfound love of soccer.

That’s it. Think of any others? Please give me a shout on twitter (@nolanknowsbest) and I will add them to the list.

]]>http://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/01/07/a-hard-core-fans-guide-to-getting-back-at-the-nhl/feed/0Bettman.6.0.jpegnolankellyVancouver Canucks President’s Trophy Celebrationhttp://blogs.theprovince.com/2012/09/17/vancouver-canucks-presidents-trophy-celebration/
http://blogs.theprovince.com/2012/09/17/vancouver-canucks-presidents-trophy-celebration/#commentsMon, 17 Sep 2012 16:53:12 +0000http://blogs.theprovince.com/?p=89197During the NHL lockout, there will be many people affected by it. From the ticket sales managers, to the people who work the food booths at the arena, to that homeless guy outside Roger’s Arena who swore to me the …]]>During the NHL lockout, there will be many people affected by it. From the ticket sales managers, to the people who work the food booths at the arena, to that homeless guy outside Roger’s Arena who swore to me the Canucks would win in 2011 (YOU LIAR). But it’s not just the monetary aspect that will affect fans, it is also the emotional ones as well. Fans of the game will miss out on countless hockey moments and memories, with nothing but Gary Bettman’s face to replace them instead.

One such memory that was ripped from the hands of Canucks fans was what is now becoming an annual tradition in Vancouver, that being the raising of the President’s Trophy banner. Nothing says hockey in Vancouver quite so well as watching the President’s banner rising up into the night, showing the world “We tried super hard during the regular season, maybe you should lay off with those playoff expectations, ok?”

However the lockout robbed us of that. As President’s Trophy winners on the verge of the unprecedented Three-Peat of Presidential Glory, this lockout perhaps hurts the Canucks franchise more than any other in the league. Many people don’t realize just how hard it is to win the Presidents Trophy. Remember how everyone got all caught up in Mission 16 W for Ray Bourque? Well the President’s Trophy can potentially be mission 82 W. Fun fact, the President’s Trophy is made of 85% silver, and 15% tears of a dodo bird. The President’s Trophy is rumored to have been the real cause of World War 2, when an enraged Germany discovered it had no players eligible to win the not yet created Trophy.

This is not an easy trophy to win, and Canucks fans? We’ve lost our chance to go for for the three-peat AND to see our awesome banner ceremony. Fear not, however, as EA Sports has your backs, folks. Long known for stomping on the heart of Canucks fans nation wide (Hey, remember how they predicted the Canucks would win it all in 2011? EA Sports and homeless people, lying to Canucks fans since 2011….), they have finally come through for us all and released a simulation of the President’s Trophy celebration. And while it might not be as good as the real thing, it’s the only thing we have at this point. So sit back, grab your popcorn, and revel in the glow of back to back President Trophy wins….

]]>http://blogs.theprovince.com/2012/09/17/vancouver-canucks-presidents-trophy-celebration/feed/1presidents2kidr0llNHL ’13 Reviewhttp://blogs.theprovince.com/2012/09/16/nhl-13-review-2/
http://blogs.theprovince.com/2012/09/16/nhl-13-review-2/#commentsSun, 16 Sep 2012 13:03:10 +0000http://blogs.theprovince.com/?p=88990There are two types of people reading this review right now. Those that bought the game already and are going to read my review to try and see if they agree with me or not. And those that are sitting …]]>There are two types of people reading this review right now. Those that bought the game already and are going to read my review to try and see if they agree with me or not. And those that are sitting on the fence about whether or not to buy this game. This review will be directed at those on the fence about buying this game, to try and help them decide if this game is worth their $60. To those that already bought this game, well, aren’t you just on the ball then? You think you’re better than me because you got the game sooner? YOU THINK YOU’RE BETTER THAN …. sorry, ok, the review, right, let’s start that. Also please note this review is insanely long. If you finish this review, you deserve a cookie.

The Lowdown:

Every year EA makes changes to their game that they label with a fancy title (“New! Augmented Reality Skate Sharpening Improvements! Watch as 30 more particles fly off the ice as you skate!”), and then it’s up to us, the paying public, to see if these changes are actual useful. When NHL 07 came out, they promised they were bringing a game changer to the world of video game hockey, and for the most part, they delivered. They kept fine tuning the game and eventually peaked in NHL ’10, where they pretty much got all they were going to get out of their hockey engine. NHL ’11 was cool, it was like an old friend visiting, and it was fun to hang out with him and all, talking about old times. Then NHL ’12 came out and it was like an old college roommate wanting to crash on your couch, and hey, maybe he could eat those doritos, and oh hey, what if he could just borrow $200, he’ll pay you back, he swears, and are you using your car this weekend? Because he needs to move 8 pounds of manure for his mom….suffice to say it was getting a bit tedious.

So with NHL ’13, things were looking up, because EA promised another game changing experience, one on par with the skill stick revolution. They promised an entire new skating engine, one that worked based on momentum. Not only did they introduce new skating, they also spent more time on the computer AI than on any of the past games they’ve made, to try and prevent the “Sopel-itis” that would often occur when playing with computer AI. Nothing was more maddening then watching another team rush in your zone, pass the puck in front of your net, and your d-man would just peacefully stare as the puck floated by him. They also promised a smarter computer AI in terms of building a team, so when you played in a season or GM mode, you could no longer trade your entire farm team for Alex Ovechkin, nor would a computer team sign nine 80+ overall goalies for its team. Oh yeah, they also promised to make it prettier. Real pretty like, so you wouldn’t be ashamed to be seen in public with it anymore. So the question is, did they deliver?

The Gameplay

The new skating engine is quite simply a ton of fun. I know it isn’t a perfect recreation of skating, but is a hell of a lot closer than anything we’ve seen in a hockey game before. In games past, EA’s players always felt very light, like they had no weight attached to them. You could spin on a dime and take off at a moments notice. The puck falls behind you and you’re going top speed? No problem, power stop, then take off dashing the other way. Everyone played like they were Pavel Bure. But if Cody Hodgson taught me one thing in his short time in Vancouver, it’s that not everyone skates like Pavel Bure, some people skate real ugly. EA moves towards a far more realistic experience in skating by putting momentum into play, and not allowing you to pull off crazy moves whenever you feel like it.

For example, if you have a fourth liner who might not be the best on his feet, if you try and go all out at top speed, you are more prone to being hit to the ice or falling over. Case in point, I had a rush with Dale Weise in one game and I tried cutting through the slot to get a shot off, at top speed. I got my shot off, but someone bumped into me and I promptly fell on my ass. You will see this a lot when you play, as cutting to the all important slot is no longer an easy task, because if you do it at top speed with someone not as skilled as Crosby, odds are you will end up on the ice.

Another joy of the new skating engine is that dumping the puck into the opposition zone is actually a viable strategy. I know EA has said this was a strategy you could use in past games, but they lied to you. NOW you can actually use this as a strategy and get the puck back. In the old games, you would dump the puck in, and you would lose the race to the puck 98% of the time, mostly due to the fact that Jason Strudwick could apparently skate backwards as fast as Ovechkin could skate forwards. In NHL ’13 if your guy gets his legs going and gets to top speed, he will beat the defender flat footed if they aren’t careful. This also means if YOU are on a defence and someone dumps the puck in, you better stop skating backwards and turn around and race for that puck, or else you are going to get beaten to an awful lot of pucks in NHL ’13 (Holding down the left trigger (xbox) in NHL ’13 makes your player skate backwards now, just a heads up). You know what this does, right? It makes Mason Raymond a very useful player in NHL ’13, as his speed creates havoc on the forecheck. (In the game, he doesn’t fall down as much, I swear.)

Aside from the skating, EA has also updated the physics so that there appears to be noticeably less suction in this years game. For those unaware, in the past, often times you would try and hit a player, or you would go to pick up the puck, and the game would help you out with a little thing called “suction.” Maybe you missed the puck, “ah well”, the game would say, “he meant well”, and the game would have the puck suction to your stick. Say you went for a huge hit but you didn’t line it up properly? The point is you meant to hit that guy, so the game would teleport you into the guy so you could land your huge hit. On one hand, this helped people out by giving them a benefit of the doubt. To most people though, this was worse than a kick to the groin because nothing was more frustrating than slipping by a guy along the boards, only to have him teleport back on top of you like he was playing Mortal Kombat screaming “Get over here!!!” as he shot a spear into your chest and yanked you back towards him. Yes, we’ve hit the point of the review where I mention Scorpion from Mortal Kombat.

In NHL ’13, the puck doesn’t suction nearly as much, nor do the players stick to each other as much as they used to. This is a very good thing because it allows for a much more organic play style. As a result of this, you will see way more battles in front of the net for a loose puck. You will see more rushes back and forth because guys can now slip along the boards and avoid checks. It leads to a more chaotic game style, which is much more representative of real hockey, so I found this to be a very good thing. Seeing the puck suction into a goalie was never a fun aspect of EA’s NHL series, so seeing your players bang at the puck and getting actual rebounds is a very positive upgrade.

As a result of all this organic puck play, and more puck collision, there is one weapon a players arsenal that they must always keep by their side at all times; The poke check. The poke check is king in this game and is a major tool in playing defense, and for creating chances offensively for that matter. Not only is poke check a huge aspect of the game, but they have even added a “chopping poke check” into the game, where you can two hand a swing at the puck that will knock the puck faster and harder in the direction you swing at. Again, this creates all sorts of scrambles in the offensive and defensive zone, leading to a more exciting and realistic gameplay, as you are constantly fighting for the puck, and as a result of the poke checks effectiveness, you are looking to pass the puck more. This also leads to more point shots going in, as guys seem to deflect the puck a lot more. That isn’t to say it’s easy getting pucks through, you actually have to move the puck around to get the open shot, but it feels like getting the puck to the point is a very strong strategy in this game. It also leads to fun situations where you bat the puck to center ice out of mid air for a breakaway in OT…

So why are these kinds of puck collisions a good thing? Because far too often people online will go into ballerina mode and try and dipsy doodle there way in a one man rush the entire game. Or the CPU would enter your zone and they would cycle around you endlessly as you could do nothing but watch. Due to the poke check being so strong, it forces people to pass a little more, and even then, they can’t do this endlessly because odds are you’ll get your stick in a passing lane eventually. I enjoy this far more than last year’s game, where one guy could circle in your zone, beer in hand, watching Golden Girls on his other TV, while you flailed away at the puck, unable to do anything. Now you can counter the one man show by utilizing your poke check. Poke checks are your best friend. Learn it. Like it. Love it.

The end result of the new gameplay additions? I think it breathes new life into this franchise, and even though it’s not as on par with changing hockey gaming like the skill stick did, it is pretty damn close. It makes for a much different experience when playing hockey, one that will make you have to re-learn how to play. A lot of complaints you will hear about the skating is how long it takes to turn, which I think is a good thing. A lot of past NHL games wouldn’t punish you for going all out all the time. In NHL 13 it pays off to be a little more patient, to sit back a little more, instead of going around like Matt Cooke on acid. It helps promote a more realistic game of hockey by forcing people to think through their actions by introducing a risk reward aspect to going for that big hit, or trying to do that huge end to end rush by yourself. On the pro side, when you do line up and land that huge hit on a dump and chase, it feels really really good. I actually screamed with delight when I landed this hit during my game last night.

Instead of just rushing the puck back and forth, you actually have a benefit to passing the puck around more. You can actually use a dump and chase strategy. Small role players feel like they have a better defined role because the speedy guys are so useful for dump and chase, and the gritty guys can use their body size to keep the puck hemmed in the opponents zone. Superstars feel like stars because they can pull off moves at high speed. You find yourself wanting Claude Giroux on the ice over someone like Dale Weise when you need a goal in the last minute of a game. These are all big improvements over last years game.

Gameplay Modes – Minus GM Connected Mode and NHL Moments Live

All of the usual suspects are here in gameplay modes. Be a Pro, Be a GM, Season mode, online play, shootout, practice, etc, etc. Nothing too ground breaking has changed in these modes, but a few notable additions were added

Be a Pro (This mode is where you lock onto a single player only and play through their career)

-You can request a trade from your team

– You can be rejected in said trade request if your player sucks too much and has no value (The Fedor Fedorov rule)

– You can retire whenever you want (The Stefan Legein rule)

– You can play multiple seasons in the CHL before you attempt to make it in the NHL now (The Cody Hodgson rule. Against his will, but a rule nonetheless.)

– You can pick which team you want if you want to skip the drafting business (The Lindros rule.)

– Be a Legend mode is in the game where you can start a career with Gretzky, Lemiuex, Hasek, etc etc, but you have to unlock them with using your regular Be a Pro by earning enough experience points, which seems very time consuming and annoying. I dislike having to unlock the Legends.

EASHL

– They have made it easier to have custom pro’s at each position. You can have different saved presets at each position

– You can level up and apply experience more often, as they have included more levels to their leveling system. This allows you to feel good about spending your time watching someone kick your ass because at least you get to apply stats points quicker.

– New All-Star awards handed out to top 5% of players in each position. So for that dude who doesn’t work and stays at home living with his parents, your time to shine is now (I don’t judge, I used to be that guy once too)

– Not much else of importance has changed. To be honest with you I got bored with the EASHL after NHL ’11 for a variety of reasons I won’t bore you with here, so I am probably not the best to weigh in on this mode. From the outside looking in, it just looks like a few perks have been added to this mode and not much else.

Hockey Ultimate Team

– This is basically the card game of the NHL series. You collect players cards, who you can then use to make up a team and play other humans or computers in single games or tournaments. You earn points to buy packs of cards by playing games and winning tournaments.

– Some people find this gameplay super addictive. You can bid on cards and buy cards other players put up for sale, so I can see the addictive side of it. I played it a lot when it first came out, and I would sit around trying to find the best deals on player cards up for sale, so I can see why people enjoy it. I just hated it because your player cards would have contract lengths, so eventually that prime Alex Ovechkin card you found? It’s going to run out, and then you can’t use him in your lineup anymore.

– This year, however, they’ve taken out career lengths for the players, so now you can keep your cards as long as you want. Which means I probably would have played this mode a ton had it not been for the GM Connected Mode (Yes I am saving that for last.)

– The easiest way to describe this is that yeah, it’s like a hockey role playing game. Level up your characters, earn points to make your players better, buy more players, etc, etc. They made a bunch of minor improvements to this mode, too many to bother listing, so just assume if you loved playing this last year, you will probably enjoy it even more this year.

Be a GM/Season Mode

– The biggest improvement they made was the GM Brain, where they made the computer much smarter at doing it’s job. It went from Mike Milbury running teams to Ken Holland running teams.

– Game takes everything it can into account, from age, to team needs, to cap hit, to how injury prone he is when eating pancakes. This makes for a more challenging and realistic experience.

– Player rating system has been revamped. Last year they rated a player on offense, defense and athleticism, this year they rate them on six things. Shooting, puck skills, senses, skating, physical, and defense. Finally Shane O’Brien’s sense of taste will come through for him in a video game.

– When you look through players rosters, players will have a defined role on a team. 1st liner, 2nd liner, 3rd liner, etc. This helps humans and CPU alike as they try and see what holes they have on their team.

– Player progression has been revamped! This excites me since I have an addiction to looking for the next big thing. In NHL ’13, players have a 1-5 star rating of their potential, 1 meaning scrub, 5 meaning potential star. They also have a color coding to these stars. Red stars mean they have a high chance of never meeting their potential (Patrik Stefan rule), yellow stars mean they have a decent chance of meeting the mid range of their potential, and green stars mean they will most likely reach full potential. There are very few green and red star players from what I have seen, which makes finding a green star very exciting, and making a red star player feel like they have the plague. Still, it’s a nice addition to the drafting and trading process, as it gives more depth to the entire system. A player that has silver/grey stars means the player has stopped reaching their potential. Older players over the age of 25 generally have silver stars.

– To be honest, the changes to this mode are something you will only find after months of playing. With the game only being out a week, I can’t tell you for sure if these changes come as advertised, but I can tell you in a week of playing I have had more trade offers from the CPU, I have had the CPU accept more realistic deals, and it is far more intuitive to look through rosters with the new stats in place.

NHL Moments Live

In this mode you get to re-create famous moments in NHL history, or re-create moments that occur in real time. So for example, you get to try and re-create Gretzky’s game where he got his 50th goal in his 39th game, or you might be re-creating that four goal that Eberle scored from the night before.

I don’t care at all about this mode. I dislike it and here is why:

A) Most of the classic NHL moments are from another team. In face, none of them are Canuck related moments. I am not suggesting they should all be Canuck moments at all, all I am saying is the odds are these emotional moments are from another team which which I have no attachment to, and thus do not care to re-create

B) Even the historic moments that every hockey fan should enjoy re-creating, I just don’t care. Gretzky got 50 goals in 39 games? That’s awesome. That’s amazing. I still don’t give enough of a crap to re-create that moment in a video game.

C) It’s too forced. I love it in a game when something happens that mirrors real life. Like for instance, I was playing in my online league and I had Stoll come in on a partial break. I thought to myself “I should shoot it top corner, just like Stoll did to end the Canucks in OT last year during the playoffs.” I shoot top corner and scored and I started laughing/crying. This was organic. It just happened. It made telling the story a cool moment because it just sort of happened. With this mode, everyone will have their story be the same. “It was crazy, I was playing last night and I got 8 points in a game with Gagner!” “No way! Me too!” “Woah, this is creepy guys because so did I!” Boo. Boo this mode.

GM Connected Mode

This is my baby. This is the mode I have been waiting for all my life. This is the mode that dreams are made of. In this mode, you basically play the GM mode, but can play against humans. You can have up to 30 GM’s running every team in the league. Each team can have players, coaches, and a GM on it. You could theoretically have 750 people in one leaugue. The odds of that happening? Slim to none. But still, even the fact you can have 3o humans to trade, sign, and play against? This. Is. AWESOME. Not only that? There is an ap for the iPhone you can download so you can sign, trade, and look at your schedule/stats on your freaking phone. You could be in a boring meeting, and you could whip out your phone and work on that trade for Joe Thornton you’ve been trying to finalize all week instead of talking about synergy in the workplace. (Odd note: The ap isn’t available on Blackberry. You know. The sponsor of the game and all.)

I currently have a league running for Xbox and PS3. We have forums set up for trading. People are printing out roster sheets, looking at the holes on their team, trying to see who they can trade, trying to adjust their rosters. I have people sending me trade requests, trying to sign free agents. It is everything you could want in a hockey game. I love it and I can’t wait to play more of it. It’s the game mode I’ve always wanted.

That being said, there are some issues with it. For one, the options in this mode are very bare boned. I can’t view schedules that easily as a commissioner, and I can’t do things like re-assign GM’s to new teams. As a commissioner you can’t really do much besides reject or accept trades. As a player, it’s really hard to tell when your other GM’s are online available to play a game. Also, it would be nice to have an option to view other games being played, to sit in as an observer. There are also several other things they could do to make it a more fully fleshed out experience. As a person running a league with a website, the more information they give me access to, the better a job I can do. I am hopeful NHL ’14 improves upon this.

The worst part about the GM Connected mode though? The menu loading times. I am not using hyperbole when I say they are one of the worst experiences I have had in a video game. They are truly truly awful. It makes the game incredibly painful to play as you try and go through the menus to play your games. I don’t think I could write enough to convince you of this, so you will just have to experience it for yourself. All I did in this video was go through the main menu options of the GM Connected mode, and click on the first option. This should take me 30 seconds. It ended up taking me almost 10 minutes.

Menus aside? This mode is the most fun I’ve had in hockey since I used to run a fantasy sim that was text based only. This mode was made for me. I love the fact that even if the gameplay ends up being awful, I could still theoretically run a sim based only league, where NHL simulates the results for the league instead of making us play the games.

Final Verdict:

There are two things to look at when judging this game, the game modes, and the gameplay. Game modes, there are so many to choose from, you are bound to find one you enjoy. This game has so much depth in regards to gameplay mode, it’s ridiculous. If you can’t find a mode you like to play in this game, then you simply hate hockey. Will you have issues with your favorite mode? Most likely, yes. Be a Pro still feels far inferior to the Fifa and Madden counterparts for example. Overall, though, there is so much to do in this game that if I grow frustrated with one game mode, I move on to another one for a while. It’s hard not to find something to do in the game.

In regards to gameplay, I love the changes they’ve made. My usual concerns in hockey are a) how many cheap goals are there and b) how smart is the AI? Both of these items, alas, are too hard to gauge only a week into release. Anything I say now could easily be thrown in my face a month from now, when five money goals are being used daily online, and the CPU AI is acting like a stupid monkey stuck in a blender every other game. But I give a hesitant thumbs up to both here, as the gameplay so far is fun, and the CPU AI looks and plays far better right now.

Will there be flaws found? Of course there will be. There will always be cheese goals in NHL games, that is the consistent in life. And eventually you will find yourself in a screaming match with your XBOX over the fact it acted in a way that was not Lidstrom like. Some people will hate the skating because it changes the way they play the game. Some will hate the power of the poke check. Some people will probably still have issues with the AI. But if you’ve never played the NHL series before, you will find it a worthwhile investment. If you’ve played every game in the series, or got bored of it around NHL ’10, I think you should still pick this game up and give the new skating engine a try.

If you just like pretty things? Then this game has that covered too. Instead of describing the graphics, it is easier to show you. It is not something that will add a ton to your game, but having it look pretty is a definite bonus.

End result: 9 out of 10 . It doesn’t get a 10 out of 10 because that is reserved for something truly groundbreaking, a generational type game, but it would still get my vote as sports game of the year. The GM Connected menus alone kill off any chance of a perfect 10. The game is one of the best hockey games I’ve played in many years, which makes it an easy answer for me; Yes this game is worth the $60. Now hurry up and join my league, so I can trade you Scott Gomez. He’s a good player still, I swear…

]]>http://blogs.theprovince.com/2012/09/16/nhl-13-review-2/feed/2hasekkidr0llLion on the loose in England?http://blogs.theprovince.com/2012/08/27/lion-on-the-loose-in-england/
http://blogs.theprovince.com/2012/08/27/lion-on-the-loose-in-england/#commentsMon, 27 Aug 2012 23:07:45 +0000http://blogs.theprovince.com/?p=86313Holidaying Brits in Essex near London claim to have seen a lion in a field.

A 24-hour search by authorities failed to turn up any sign of the king of beasts, but now a picture has emerged that eyewitnesses claim …

]]>Holidaying Brits in Essex near London claim to have seen a lion in a field.

A 24-hour search by authorities failed to turn up any sign of the king of beasts, but now a picture has emerged that eyewitnesses claim is proof of the animal.

Apparently, no one in the UK takes a camera on summer vacation anymore.

That “photo” looks like it was taken on an 8-year-old cel phone and run through an impressionist painting app.